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AIM: Diff Partition intheClassroom: Instructional Materials fortheSocialthe Social StudiesClassroom StudiesClassroom Teaching ’s Partition erentiated Strategies for Ma s fo fo r South Asia InstituteSouth Asia intheCollege Arts ofLiberal AIM: South Asia isproduced throughAIM: South Asia the University ofTexas at Austin Studi e Partition in the Classroom: Diff erentiated Strategies for Teaching India’s Partition

Instructional Materials for the Social Studies Classroom

Primary Researchers:

Amber Abbas, PhD Studente Department of History University of Texas at Austin

Rachel Meyer, Outreach Director Don Arntz, Media Coordinator South Asia Institute University of Texas at Austin

Jamison Warren, Social Studies Teacher Stephen F. Austin High School Austin, Texas

South Asia Institute University of Texas htt p://www.utexas.edu/cola/insts/southasia/[email protected] Partition in the Classroom: Diff erentiated Strategies for Teaching India’s Partition Instructional Materials for the Social Studies Classroom

First Edition Publication Date: November 2007

Th is unit contains copyrighted material, which remains the prop- erty of the individual copyright holders. Permission is granted to reproduce this unit for classroom use only. Please do not redistribute this unit without prior permission. For more information, please see: htt p://www.utexas.edu/cola/insts/southasia/

I Table of Contents

Partition in the Classroom: Diff erentiated Strategies for Teaching India’s Partition Instructional Materials for the Social Studies Classroom

Introduction...... III

Standards Alignment ...... IV

Section One: Introductory Lessons...... 1 Introduction to the 1947 ...... 2 Introduction to Oral History ...... 26 Supplementary Lesson: Push-Pull Factors of Migration...... 37

Section Two: Student Activities ...... 38 KWL ...... 39 Partitioning the Classroom...... 40 Margaret Bourke-White Photo Analysis ...... 55 Political Cartoon Analysis...... 70 Story Analysis – “Toba Tek Singh” ...... 78 Reading Oral Histories of Partition ...... 83 Oral History Jigsaw or Partition “Speed Dating” ...... 104 Take a Stand ...... 107 Creating Interpretive Materials ...... 108 Orchid and Onion...... 111

Section Th ree: Lesson Planning ...... 112

Section Four: Student Products ...... 117

Appendix: Other Resources and Bibliography...... 127

II Introduction

Th is curriculum unit, “Partition in the Classroom: Diff erentiated Strategies for Teaching India’s Partition” was conceived at the 60th anniversary of the Partition of the . Th e unit addresses the complex issue of teaching about Partition in classrooms increasingly defi ned by ethnic diversity. It treats Partition as a case study for analyzing and understanding other migration events while providing students with insights into the specifi c diffi cult and complex choices individuals, families and communities faced in 1947 in India. What were the experiences of individuals, families and communities when they were displaced? What eff ects did this movement have on understandings of national identity and citizenship? How are lessons learned from 1947 relevant today? How do diff erent individuals and communities remember Partition? How can oral histories provide students with additional perspectives on historical events and processes?

“Partition in the Classroom” introduces these questions through a variety of primary source materials. Th e materials are designed to bring out many of the contemporary and remembered experiences of Partition. By addressing the issue of memory and the possibility for multiple experiences, the unit seeks to engage students with a history that takes place at the level of families and communities, rather than at the level of politicians and governments. Just as the unit introduces students to multiple ways of seeing and understanding history, the fi nal project allows students to utilize Multiple Intelligences to generate creative products.

Th e unit begins with a brief introduction to the basic history and geography of the Partition of the Indian subcontinent in 1947, located in Section One. Th is section also includes an Introduction to Oral History. Both original documents, in Microsoft PowerPoint, with Lecture Notes, are included on the CD. A supplementary lesson is also provided in this section on migration push/pull factors. Th is brief exercise allows students to think broadly about migration trends as well as the specifi c factors at stake in 1947 India.

Section Two includes a number of student activities that draw on a variety of sources (photographs, political cartoons, oral histories and fi ction). Th e activities are designed for use in diverse classrooms with the intention of providing a selection that ensures maximum student participation and engagement. Th e activities are designed primarily for use at the high school level. Activities in the unit require students to synthesize information from primary and secondary sources and create interpretive materials for understanding the history and the geography of Partition.

We include ideas for lesson planning in Section Th ree. Th e section provides guidance and strategies for planning lessons of varying lengths, classroom activities and enrichment/extension opportunities.

Sample student products with rubrics are provided in Section Four.

Finally, an Appendix contains a bibliography and resources for learning more about the 1947 Partition of India, including fi lms, Web sites, scholarly books, and fi ction.

We hope you fi nd this unit useful. We welcome any feedback or comments you may have.

III Standards Alignment

Th is curriculum unit was designed to address the following standards in the Texas Essential Knowledge & Skills (TEKS):

113.33 World History Studies (High School) (6) Geography. Th e student understands the types and patt erns of lement, the factors that aff ect where people sett le, and processes of sett lement development over time. Th e student is expected to: B) explain the processes that have caused cities to grow such as location along transportation routes, availability of resources that have att racted sett lers and economic activities, and continued access to other cities and resources.

(7) Geography. Th e student understands the growth, distribution, movement, and characteristics of world population. Th e student is expected: B) explain the political, economic, social, and environmental factors that contribute to human migration such as how national and international migrations are shaped by push-and-pull factors and how physical geography aff ects the routes, fl ows, and destinations of migration.

(18) Culture. Th e student understands the ways in which cultures change and maintain continuity. Th e student is expected to: A) describe the impact of general processes such as migration, war, trade, independent inventions, and diff usion ofideas and motivations on cultural change.

113.34 World Geography Studies (High School) (7) Geography. Th e student understands the growth, distribution, movement, and characteristics of world population. Th e student is expected to: B) explain the political, economic, social, and environmental factors that contribute to human migration such as how national and international migrations are shaped by push-and-pull factors and how physical geography aff ects the routes, fl ows, and destinations of migration.

Th is unit also addresses the following National Geography Standards from Th e Society:

Standard 9, Human Systems: Th e characteristics, distribution, and migration of human populations on Earth’s surface.

Grades 9-12 By the end of the twelft h grade, the students knows and understands: (1) trends in world population numbers and patt erns and (2) the impact of human migration on physical and human systems.

IV Standards Alignment

Th is unit also addresses the following National Standards for History for Grades 5-12 – World History presented by the National Center for History in the Schools:

Th e student in grades 5-12 should understand

Era 9 - Th e 20th Century Since 1945: Promises and Paradoxes Standard 1- Part three: how colonial empires broke up. Standard 2 -Th e search for community, stability, and peace in an interdependent world.

Th is unit also addresses the following NCSS Standards and Performance Expectations:

I. Culture Social Studies programs should include experiences that provide for the study of culture and cultural diversity, so that the [high school] learner can: b. predict how data and experiences may be interpreted by people from diverse cultural perspectives and frames of references. e. demonstrate the value of cultural diversity, as well as cohesion, within and across groups.

II. Time, Continuity & Change Social Studies programs should include experiences that provide for the study of the ways human beings view themselves over time, so that the [high school] learner can: a. demonstrate that historical knowledge and the concept of time are socially infl uenced constructions that lead historians to be selective in the questions they seek to answer and the evidence they use. d. systematically employ processes of critical historical inquiry to reconstruct and reinterpret the past, such as using a variety of sources and checking their credibility, validating and weighing evidence for claims, and searching for causality. e. investigate, interpret, and analyze multiple historical and contemporary viewpoints within and across cultures related to important events, recurring dilemmas, and persistent issues, while employing empathy, skepticism, and critical judgment.

IV. Individual Development & Identity Social Studies programs should include experiences that provide for the study of individual development and identity, so that the [high school] learner can: a. articulate personal connections to time, place, and social/cultural systems. c. describe the ways family, religion, gender, ethnicity, nationality, socioeconomic status, and other group and cultural infl uences contribute to the development of a sense of self.

V Standards Alignment

e. examine the interactions of ethnic, national, or cultural infl uences in specifi c situations or events. g. compare and evaluate the impact of stereotyping, conformity, acts of altruism, and other behaviors on individuals and groups. h. work independently and cooperatively in groups and institutions to accomplish goals.

VI. Power, Authority & Governance Social Studies programs should include experiences that provide for the study of how people create and change structures of power, authority, and governance, so that the [high school] learner can: d. compare and analyze the ways nations and organizations respond to confl icts between forces of unity and forces of diversity. f. analyze and evaluate conditions, actions, and motivations that contribute to confl ict and cooperation within and among nations.

IX. Global Connections Social Studies programs should include experiences that provide for the study of global connections and interdependence, so that the [high school] learner can: b. explain conditions and motivations that contribute to confl ict, cooperation, and interdependence among groups, societies, and nations.

VI Section One: Introductory Lessons

Section One: Introductory Lessons

Sec1:1 Section One: Introductory Lessons

PowerPoint Lecture: Introduction to the 1947 Partition of India

TIME NEEDED: 30 minutes

OBJECTIVE: To identify the Who, What, Where and When of the Partition of India.

SUPPLIES FOR THIS ACTIVITY: • Computer with PowerPoint and an LCD projector • Introduction to Partition PowerPoint with Lesson Notes • Teacher’s Notes for Introduction to Partition • Historical Overview of Events Leading up to Partition handout

ACTIVITY: Introduction to Partition PowerPoint Lecture • Th is lecture on the “offi cial” political history of Partition introduces the major players and groups along with a brief historical and geographical overview. Students will be able to get a sense of the distances that people migrated during the Partition and gain insights into the reason and logic behind the decision to Partition the Indian subcontinent.

• Use the Historical Overview of Events Leading up to Partition handout to supplement the PowerPoint or have students identify key dates by reading them aloud. Students will fi nd this handout helpful as a reference throughout the lesson.

NOTE: Th is activity introduces the “standard” history of Partition. Th e primary source analysis that serves as the bulk of this unit will provide an alternate historical lens. Teachers may fi nd it useful to guide students to think about the diff erent types of historical information that come from diff erent sources throughout the lesson.

Sec1:2 Section One: Introductory Lessons

Teacher’s Notes: Introduction to Partition Historical Overview

Th e Partition of India included one of the largest migrations in history, with almost 15 million people on the move, and nearly one million dead. At midnight on , 1947, British rule ended in India aft er almost 200 years of informal and formal occupation. Th ough Indian political were formed at the turn of the century, to represent Hindu and Muslim interests respectively, the Indian independence movement grew exponentially aft er the end of . By the early 1930s, the opposing interests of these political groups had become clear; throughout the next 20 years they both resisted British authority, but their common agenda did litt le to assuage diff erences and and Muslims came to be seen as separate “nations.” Independence from Britain was accompanied by the creation of two independent states: India and (comprised of and , now ). Th e independence movement gained signifi cant momentum aft er Mohandas K. Gandhi’s return to India from . Gandhi led the in throughout the 1930s and 1940s and did much to undermine British authority. Gandhi was a people’s leader, never a member of the Congress Party. Although he advised the Congress leaders; his concern was always to reinvigorate India according to what he believed to be her traditional values. He urged or self-rule and encouraged pro-independence Indians to support local production and local economies to undercut British trade . was a protégé of Gandhi, the son of a prominent Indian National Congress leader. Nehru envisioned a secular, democratic state for India, and was responsible for turning Gandhi’s non-violence into a country-wide movement supported by local and regional political organizations. Nehru is known as an able statesman, and held the post of from 1947 until his death in 1964. Th e India we see today is largely the result of the secular, democratic legacy of Nehru and the early Congress leaders. Jinnah emerged as a leader of the Muslims in the late 1930s. Like Gandhi, he was a British-educated lawyer who returned to India. Jinnah had been an early proponent of Hindu-Muslim solidarity against British rule, but eventually came to believe there would be no place for Muslims within a democratic system because they would be a permanent numerical minority. Leveraging the Muslim legacy as the former rulers of India, Jinnah argued for weighted representation for Muslims in local and national legislatures. Th is idea was never acceptable to the Congress leaders who believed in the power of their system to protect minority interests, and Jinnah broke away, leading Muslims in the demand for a separate state. Th e British began to realize the impossibility of continuing to rule India as a during World War II. With their att entions focused in Europe, they tried to convince Indian leaders that they would address Indian independence aft er the War. Indian politicians continued to agitate throughout the war and in early 1946, the British government sent out a parliamentary delegation to try to negotiate the terms of Indian independence. Th e Cabinet Mission, as it was called, was unable to devise a solution that was acceptable to both Congress and leadership but authorized the formation of a Congress-only Interim Government that was to hold power until the offi cial transfer of power. In March of 1947, the British Government dispatched Louis Mountbatt en, to orchestrate an acceptable scheme for transferring power before June 1948. Mountbatt en soon realized the fragile state of relations between and Muslim communities and feared a breakdown of

Sec1:3 Section One: Introductory Lessons

law and order into rioting and violence. He accelerated the timetable for the transfer of power, and on June 3, 1947 announced a Partition Plan to which the Indian National Congress, Muslim League and Sikh leaders (whose homeland of was set to be divided) had agreed. Under this accelerated timetable, the transfer of power was to take place on August 15, 1947. Two states were to be created. India was comprised of the territories of British India and the vast majority of the hundreds of Princely States who had accepted British authority. Pakistan was divided into East and West wings comprised of Muslim majority territories. Th ese states were given the choice to join Pakistan if their populations were Muslim (and they shared borders with other Muslim majority states), or to join India if their populations were non-Muslim majorities. Th e populations of two states that were partitioned— and Punjab— and divided into Hindu and Muslim areas. Two states refused to accede to either India or Pakistan: and . Kashmir was a Muslim majority state, governed by a Hindu king. At fi rst, he refused to accede, though he entertained off ers from both India and Pakistan. Th e king, however, secretly orchestrated his accession to India in October 1947. Th is territory continues to be disputed today, with both countries laying claim to parts of Kashmir. Hyderabad was a Muslim majority state surrounded by non-Muslim states and fi nally acceded to India in 1948. Th e British did not anticipate the transfer of populations or the level of violence that would take place during the Partition. Th is colossal miscalculation was partly a result of an inability to see the diversity of interests in the areas to be divided, and their misapprehension that resources could be allocated fairly and evenly. Congress and League politicians had developed a deep suspicion and distrust of each other’s motives and both were ultimately dissatisfi ed with the outcome of the Partition Plan. Th e Sikh leaders, in particular, felt excluded from the plan, angered that their homeland was to be divided. Most migrated into India, but some of their holiest sites remain inside Pakistan. Th e disruption of the Sikh community had lasting consequences in Punjab as displaced groups were involved in much of the Partition violence. As August 15th approached, the British Government retained Cyril Radcliff e (who had never been to India before) to draw the fi nal boundary, based on surveys of infrastructure and population distribution. Tension between groups on both sides of the border grew as Partition approached with eruptions of violence throughout North India from Calcutt a, in the East, to , in the West. However, when power was transferred into Indian hands, the fi nal border announcement had not been made. Uncertainty over the border contributed to the volatile situation in Punjab. Th e violence became chaotic and unpredictable and diff erent groups struggled for superiority. 2007 marks the 60th Anniversary of the 1947 Partition that created the modern states of India and Pakistan. Pakistan, then composed of West Pakistan and East Pakistan, broke apart again in 1971 to create the independent state of Bangladesh. Th e Partition of India—and the simultaneous end of two hundred years of British rule in the Indian subcontinent—triggered a wave of British decolonization worldwide that continued for almost twenty years. In recent years, borders throughout the world have been redrawn around ethnic and religious enclaves carved out of the nation-states created in the wake of Th e Second World War. Partitions have taken place in Cypress, Israel and Palestine, Yugoslavia and Ireland. In 2007, Senator Joseph Biden (D-DE) suggested a partition plan for Iraq in the United States Congress. Th is suggestion reveals that despite the confl icts left by partitions worldwide, division is still seen as a viable solution for ethnic and communal confl ict. Because recent histories of the Partition of India have relied heavily on non-offi cial sources that reveal the diversity of the Indian public that was aff ected by Partition, it is useful as a case study for studying a people’s migration history.

Sec1:4 Section One: Introductory Lessons

Historical Overview of Events leading up to Partition Time Line

16th -- Mughal (Muslim) rule is consolidated and spans Indian subcontinent.

1750s- British establish big commercial presence (especially in Bengal) with the Company. Other European powers have trading sett lements on the coasts.

1857- 1857 . Also called Rebellion of 1857 and First War of Independence. Muslim and Hindu troops serving in the Army revolt in the 1857 Mutiny. Th is event results in the fall of the last Mughal Emperor.

1858- British consolidate power and bring India under the British monarchy. Th e British offi cially become the colonial power ruling India, and becomes the Empress of India. Th e British control most of India except for regional principalities which give up some power to the British, but retain control in local areas and oft en have private armies.

1896- Founding of Indian National Congress party.

1906- Founding of All-India Muslim League party.

1919- End of WWI- Gandhi begins fi ghting for rights for Indians in India. Mohandas K. Gandhi (1869-1948) was a British- educated Indian lawyer who began fi ghting racism against Indians in South Africa where he lived. He moved back to India during World War I and began fi ghting for peasant rights. His att ention soon turned to Indian self- rule and he began fi ghtingfor the political and economic rights of Indians in India.

1930- March. Gandhi leads thousands in a march to the sea to make salt, a commodity over which the British held control and that they taxed heavily. Th is is oft en considered the beginning of his non-violent resistance to British rule.

1935- Act. Th is act passed by the British Parliament devolves power into Indian hands in government service and sets up local political systems by Indians. Muslims feel threat of exclusion due to their status as a permanent minority.

1930s- Muslim League and Indian National Congress start to pursue separate goals: -Congress seeks total emancipation from British rule. -Muslim League seeks weighted Muslim representation in local government proportionate to their history of power— rather than their numbers— as they are in a permanent minority.

1936- Muslim League fares poorly in local elections. League begins eff ort to increase Muslim membership and to establish itself as the sole political party representing Indian Muslims.

Sec1:5 Section One: Introductory Lessons

1940- Muslim League passes Pakistan Resolution that initiates demand for a separate state for India’s Muslims.

1939-1945- World War II- Congress leaders jailed for non-cooperation movement. When the British declare war in Europe on India’s behalf, the Indian National Congress leaders resign from the British- controlled government. Th ey are promptly jailed. Th is move means that the only major political opposition to British rule is the Muslim League. Th e Muslim League uses the opportunity to develop closer links with the British government.

May 1946- Cabinet Mission. British send three representatives to India to try to resolve the impasse over independence and confl icts between Muslims and Hindus over representation in a future government of Independent India.

1946- . For the fi rst time, Muslim League wins the majority of available Muslim seats in the local and national legislatures and emerges as the dominant leadership of India’s Muslims.

August 1946- / Great Calcutt a Killings. Jinnah mobilizes Muslims to peacefully protest the formation of a Congress-only national “Interim Government” that would facilitate the transition to independent rule. Tensions are already high and violence erupts in Calcutt a with up to 5,000 people (both Muslim and Hindu) killed in communal att acks.

January 1947- Communal rioting in .

February 1947- Mountbatt en arrives in India. British government recalls Viceroy Wavell and replaces him with Viceroy Mountbatt en. Mountbatt en is given more power by the British government than any viceroy has ever had. He is dedicated to gett ing the British out of India as quickly and painlessly as possible.

March 1947- Sikh- Muslim riots in Rawalpindi.

June 3, 1947- Mountbatt en announces Partition Plan.

August 14-15, 1947- Transfer of Power. Independence and Partition.

Migration and Violence continued until the end of 1947. Gandhi was assassinated in January 1948 by a Hindu fundamentalist opposed to Partition. Mountbatt en became -General of India and left in June 1948. Jinnah became Governor- General of Pakistan and died of tuberculosis in September 1948. Nehru became Prime Minister of India and died in 1964.

Sec1:6 Section One: Introductory Lessons

Partition in the Classroom: Introduction to the 1947 Partition of India

Sec1:7 Section One: Introductory Lessons

LESSON NOTES: The section on Partition in the World Geography textbook used at Austin High School, Austin Texas. If possible, teachers should substitute a similar passage from their own textbook. This is a quick way to give some basics about Partition. The paragraph is enhanced in the next slide. This introductory slide is just to show that what is covered in one paragraph in the textbook is what we are going to spend the whole lesson on!

Sec1:8 Section One: Introductory Lessons

Partition and War

PARTITION AND WAR The end of British rule in 1947 brought the partition, or division, of British India. Two new countries were created—India (predominantly Hindu) and mainly Muslim Pakistan (separated into West Pakistan and East Pakistan). Partition led to much violence between Muslims and Hindus. About one million people died in the conflict. Another 10 million fled across national borders. Muslims in India moved to Pakistan, while Hindus in Pakistan crossed into India. West Pakistan and East Pakistan shared a religious bond, but ethnic differences and their 1,100-mile separation eventually drove them apart. The people of East Pakistan began to call for their own state. But the government in West Pakistan opposed such a move. Civil war broke out in 1971. That year, with help from India, East Pakistan won its independence as Bangladesh.

“ CHAPTER 25 Human Geography of South Asia,” World Geography (McDougal Littell, 2002), 574.

LESSON NOTES: Have the students read this basic broad historical overview of the main issues that come up during Partition. It tells almost nothing about why there was violence between Hindus, Sikhs and Muslims, or why the once unified country of India was split up at all. This lesson will illuminate some of those issues by drawing attention to the plight of average people caught up in Partition.

LECTURE NOTES: What do we know about Partition from this paragraph? Does it tell us why India was partitioned? Who made the decision to partition India? What countries were created by the Partition? Who was affected? Why was there violence- does this paragraph tell us? These are the issues we will be considering throughout this lesson. So keep these basic questions in mind.

Sec1:9 Section One: Introductory Lessons

LECTURE NOTES: The Mughals (a Muslim dynasty) ruled India from the mid- 1500s up till the mid-1800s, for roughly three hundred years. The Mughal Dynasty is famous for its beautiful monuments all over India including this one, the Taj Mahal in built by the Emperor in around 1648.

The British arrived in India during the Mughal rule and by the 1850s had established “crown rule” in India, which meant that India officially became part of the . The British ruled India until after the Second World War. By the end of WWII, the nationalist movement in India was very strong, and the British economy was in ruins. The British couldn’t afford to keep its empire together, and the Indians were ready for independence.

Sec1:10 Section One: Introductory Lessons

Mohandas K. Gandhi

LESSON NOTES: The following few slides cover the main political players during the Partition/ Independence of India.

LECTURE NOTES: After the British had ruled officially for several decades the Indians started to get fed up with being colonized. Wealthy Indians had access to excellent British education, they spoke English. Some of them, like this man, were even lawyers educated in , but they did not have full rights as citizens. They had no political representatives, they could not vote.

Mohandas K. Gandhi, remembered today as Mahatma (Great Soul) was an early leader of the Indian nationalist movement for Independence from Britain. What is the method he is remembered for? --Non-violent resistance, what he also called non-cooperation which means not cooperating with British institutions and business interests. This included boycotting British goods and strikes as well as marches and protests. Gandhi’s non-violence movement was very important for disrupting British power in India, and forced the British to consider giving India its independence.

Gandhi always resisted Partition and insisted on the idea of Indian unity.

Sec1:11 Section One: Introductory Lessons

Jawaharlal Nehru

LECTURE NOTES: Jawaharlal Nehru was Gandhi’s protégé, Gandhi was like a father for Nehru. Nehru led the Indian National Congress movement for independence throughout the 1930s and 40s. The Indian National Congress was one of two major political parties fighting for independence. They are best known for using Gandhi’s non-violence tactics on a massive scale to undermine British rule.

Nehru became Prime Minister of India in 1947 and remained Prime Minister until 1964. Nehru was dedicated to a secular (non-religious) democratic system that protected minorities. He resisted the Partition, because he felt that under a democratic system, every group would be represented. But he ultimately saw Partition as the most efficient way of securing India’s independence from Britain, which was his ultimate goal.

Sec1:12 Section One: Introductory Lessons

Mohammad Ali Jinnah

LECTURE NOTES: Mohammad Ali Jinnah was the leader of the All India Muslim League, the other major political party that was resisting British rule. The Muslim League led the movement for the creation of Pakistan. He represented the Muslims who were to become a permanent minority in democratic India. He worried that even as the former rulers of India, Muslims would have no political power or protection. He wanted assurances that they would have equal rights and the same representation as the majority Hindu population.

He envisioned Pakistan as a democratic, secular Muslim state, much like Nehru’s vision of India. Jinnah was much older than Nehru and was very sick with tuberculosis. He died only a year after Pakistan was created.

Sec1:13 Section One: Introductory Lessons

Golden Temple of the Sikhs

LECTURE NOTES: The Sikhs are another major religious group in India and they live primarily in the Punjab. You can usually recognize the Sikhs because the men wear colorful turbans. Sikh leaders actively resisted the Partition plan. The new border would divide their homeland (the Punjab) in half and separate them from holy places that would end up in Pakistan. They were caught in the middle of Partition negotiations. They didn’t have enough power to demand their own homeland, like the Muslims could, so they could only choose which country to join, in which they would be a permanent minority. Most Sikhs migrated to India, and their communities were caught up in much of the violence of Partition.

Sec1:14 Section One: Introductory Lessons

Viceroy Mountbatten

LECTURE NOTES: Viceroy Louis Mountbatten arrived in India in March 1947 to take over as the British government’s representative. He was given power by the King of England to figure out a way for the British to leave India quickly and painlessly. Though the government gave him until 1948 to do it, he moved the date for independence up to August 1947. He had to find a way to make all the major groups happy, including Hindus, Muslims, and Sikhs. He worried that if the process took too long, there would be a civil war, and the British would be blamed for it, so he accelerated the calendar for Partition by almost a year!

Mountbatten’s plan for Partition was announced on June 3, 1947 and the Transfer of Power officially took place on August 14th and 15th 1947. The governments of India and Pakistan had only two and a half months to get ready! By August, neither India nor Pakistan had a fully independent army, and didn’t even know exactly where the official border would run!

Sec1:15 Section One: Introductory Lessons

Cyril Radcliffe

LECTURE NOTES: This goofy looking man was the lawyer that the British brought from India to actually determine where the border between India and Pakistan should go. He had never been to India before, didn’t know much about it, but had to decide on how resources like roads, railroads, canals, agricultural land and of course, populations, would be divided between the two countries

In the end, both Indian and Pakistani politicians were unhappy with his border through Punjab. This led many British to say that he had divided things correctly- he managed to anger everyone, not just one group! But the Indian National Congress and the Muslim League had agreed to accept his border, and they did. But, the people who lived in the areas to be divided, including many Sikhs, had to pick which side they wanted to live on. That’s what led to the massive exchange of populations that took place during Partition.

Sec1:16 Section One: Introductory Lessons

LECTURE NOTES: This map shows the border finally drawn through Punjab . The boundary is the final, permanent boundary between the two nations of India and Pakistan. The blue boundary was what everyone expected. This discrepancy meant that people who thought they were going to be in Pakistan found out on August 17 (two days after independence) that they were going to be in India-- and vice versa. This created a lot of confusion and distress for people who were already living in uncertain times. This is an agricultural area, and the rains were late that year, meaning that their whole livelihood was in jeopardy and that contributed their anxiety and also their decision to move or to stay.

The arrows point to the two cities of Lahore and .

Sec1:17 Section One: Introductory Lessons

The and Old City of Lahore

The

LECTURE NOTES: Lahore is a major city in , today in Pakistan. It was the seat of government for the state of undivided Punjab, before 1947. It was, and remains, a major cultural center and is well known for both its Mughal monuments, and its modern literary culture. During Partition, Hindu minority neighborhoods were viciously attacked and Hindus were pushed out of Lahore.

Sec1:18 Section One: Introductory Lessons

Map of Amritsar

Sikh Man

LECTURE NOTES: Amritsar is a city in East Punjab, today in India. It is the home of the most important Sikh temple, the Golden Temple. Amritsar was to be in India, but didn’t have as much infrastructure as Lahore, and has not been as prosperous. Much of the violence that took place in the Punjab involved battles between Muslims and Sikhs. Trains heading to Pakistan had to pass through Amritsar and many were targeted and attacked, even in the train station.

Sec1:19 Section One: Introductory Lessons

New , India

LECTURE NOTES: was the British colonial capital and is today the capital of modern India. It was also the capital of the Muslim Mughal rulers. It has a long history of diversity, with Muslims and Hindus living in close proximity. During Partition many Muslims who had been pushed out of their homes across North India but had not yet made it to Pakistan ended up in refugee camps in New Delhi. Then, Hindus who were migrating out of Pakistan arrived in Delhi and collided with these communities which led to unrest and shortages of supplies including water and food in the camps.

Sec1:20 Section One: Introductory Lessons

Lahore to Amritsar is 28 miles

Lahore to New Delhi is 265 miles

LECTURE NOTES: Some people walked only the short distance of Lahore to Amritsar or Amritsar to Lahore (about 28 miles), but many walked the much longer distance to or from New Delhi.

It is important to remember that it was at least as hot as a Texas summer with high temps over 110 degrees F. People had had no water, no food, and they had to carry everything they owned on their backs. Sometimes the long lines of people migrating were 25 miles long!

Sec1:21 Section One: Introductory Lessons

Dallas to Houston Is 239 miles

Austin to San Marcos is 30 miles

NOTES FOR TEACHERS: The next few slides are intended to provide some familiar terms for comparison. It may be useful to substitute a map of your own state here to make the distances familiar. The distance between Lahore and Amritsar is roughly equivalent to the distance between Austin and San Marcos, TX. The distance between Lahore and New Delhi is roughly equivalent to the distance between Dallas and Houston. These are familiar and accessible distances for us today, but during Partition it sometimes took people days or weeks to cover them. CLICK 1: The distance from Austin to San Marcos- Approximately 30 miles CLICK 2: The distance from Dallas to Houston- Approximately 239 miles

LECTURE NOTES: Here is some more familiar geography. For comparison, the distance of Lahore to Amritsar, the West and East capitals of Punjab, is roughly the same as the distance between Austin and San Marcos. So, all of the sudden, San Marcos and Austin are in different countries. What do people do who live in San Marcos or Buda but work in Austin? What if they have family in both places? How would people choose which side to live on? What would you take from your home if you had to leave?

Similarly, the distance people were often walking between Delhi and Lahore is about the same as the distance between Dallas and Houston. They WALKED it. Only very wealthy and very well-connected people traveled by car or airplane. Most people came on foot or by train. Trains can only hold a few thousand people, and roughly 7 MILLION people crossed the border going EACH direction.

Sec1:22 Section One: Introductory Lessons

Greater Houston: population 5.5 million

Greater Austin: population 1.5 million

Approximately 15 million people migrated during the Partition of India in 1947-- 7.2 million people in each direction. That is the equivalent to a total migration that is double the combined populations of Houston and Austin.

In the first two weeks after Hurricane Katrina in 2005, 375,000 people migrated. This was the largest migration in America in the last 150 years.

LESSON NOTES: This slide should provide some numbers for comparison. CLICK 1: The populations of the cities of Houston and Austin, TX. It may be useful to substitute populations from regional centers in your area for familiarity. CLICK 2: The map shows the bi-directional migration and the statistics give context for understanding the scale of the migration. Approximately 15 million people migrated, with numbers for East-West and West-East migration roughly equal. It is notoriously difficult to assess the numbers partly because of the high level of violence. Many family members were never accounted for. CLICK 3: The total number of migrants during Partition in relation to Texas populations. CLICK 4: Compare the numbers to the migration brought on by Hurricane Katrina. Texas students may remember the massive traffic jam during Hurricane Rita when people tried to get out of Houston and spent 10-18 hours on the highway stuck in traffic.

Sec1:23 Section One: Introductory Lessons

LESSON NOTES: This slide and the next reference the post-Partition history of South Asia. This slide shows the impact of the Princely States of India, areas that were never fully incorporated into the British system. Local princes continued to rule these areas until 1947 when most of them opted for either Pakistan or India. The state of Kashmir is a notorious holdout, and did not accede to India until October 1947. It has been a disputed territory ever since. This dispute is at the heart of ongoing tension between India and Pakistan.

LECTURE NOTES: This is a map of India before Partition. The LIGHT PARTS show the parts that the British ruled. The DARK PARTS show states that were still ruled by princes who had to decide whether to go to India or Pakistan in 1947.

Most states made their decisions before Partition, but the refusal of the Maharaja of Kashmir (in the far North of the image) to decide what to do has left a legacy of conflict there that lasts today. The population is majority Muslim, and thus was expected to go to Pakistan, but the Maharaja was Hindu and wanted to be part of India. The Pakistani and Indian Armies still fight over Kashmir.

The percentages in the different provinces show the percentage of the population that was Muslim. According to Mountbatten’s June 3 Partition Plan, only Muslim provinces that shared borders with other Muslims states went to Pakistan-- this includes provinces in the Northwest of India (what is now Pakistan) and in the Northeast of India (what became East Pakistan and is now Bangladesh). The state of Hyderabad in the South, was a large Muslim majority state, but because it did not share borders with other Muslim states/ provinces, Hyderabad also acceded to India in 1948.

Sec1:24 Section One: Introductory Lessons

LESSON NOTES: This slide is to show the original configuration of East and West Pakistan in 1947. By 1971, the of East Pakistan had been alienated by the West Pakistani government. Though they held the numerical majority in terms of population, they held almost no political or military power. With the aid of India, they fought for and won their independence in 1971. East Pakistan is now the independent state of Bangladesh.

LECTURE NOTES: When Pakistan was created, it actually had two wings, one on the West of India, and one on the East. They were known as East and West Pakistan. In 1971, East Pakistan fought for independence from West Pakistan and became the country of Bangladesh.

END OF PRESENTATION

Sec1:25 Section One: Introductory Lessons

PowerPoint Lecture: Introduction to Oral History

TIME NEEDED: 15 minutes

OBJECTIVE: To identify the value and challenges of using oral histories as primary sources. To evaluate the strengths and the limitations of oral history narratives.

SUPPLIES FOR THIS ACTIVITY: • Computer with PowerPoint and LCD Projector • Introduction to Oral History PowerPoint with Lecture Notes • Teacher’s Notes for Introduction to Oral History

ACTIVITY: Introduction to Oral History PowerPoint Lecture • Use Lecture Notes in PowerPoint to teach about using oral histories as primary sources for historical analysis. Th is provides a framework for understanding how historians use oral histories, including the strengths and weaknesses of oral histories. Th e PowerPoint presentation provides strategies for analyzing oral histories.

• Encourage students to think about what kind of historical information is available in oral histories. How are these sources potentially diff erent from textbooks, literature, political cartoons, photographs?

Sec1:26 Section One: Introductory Lessons

Teacher’s Notes: Introduction to Oral History

Th is activity introduces oral history narratives as primary source material for historical analysis. Th e Introduction to Oral History PowerPoint presents some of the challenges of using oral histories, as well as the value of them as alternatives to archival “offi cial” history. Students have the opportunity to read and analyze oral history narratives as primary sources. Th e activity, Reading Oral Histories of Partition, demonstrates for students that there may be multiple perspectives on historical events that are valid and important. Finally, the activity Oral History Jigsaw/ Partition “Speed Dating” brings together the many perspectives represented in the oral history narratives as students share the perspective of their narrator with other students. Much recent scholarship on the Partition of India has used oral history narratives to complement the offi cial sources available for Partition. Th ese narratives reveal the stories of women, children and families who are undocumented by the statistics and records of the governments of India and Pakistan. In the narratives included in this unit, students encounter individuals and families struggling with diffi cult decisions about whether to stay in the home that they know, or to leave everything behind in hopes of a bett er life. Th e narratives reveal the narrators’ prejudices and opinions about Partition, formed in part by their experiences of displacement. Students should consider the migration push/pull factors for each narrator. How did the narrator make the decision to stay or to go? What were the consequences of that decision? Did they benefi t or suff er? Oral history narratives provide unique access to the experience of individuals. Because these narratives include several diff erent perspectives, they complicate the standard narrative of Partition that represents it as a communal confl ict between Hindus and Muslims. It is important to bear in mind that these narratives are mediated by processes of remembering, nationalism and current events. A story that a narrator tells in the present is as much about the past and their own experience as it is about the narrator’s current circumstances. Oral histories are about the present and the past. Th e current level of enmity between India and Pakistan may aff ect a narrator’s perspective on the validity of Partition, or on other religious groups. All narratives are contingent on these processes, but reveal important layers of meaning and experience that are unavailable elsewhere. Th e fi rst fi ve narratives (Set A) included in Section Two are numbered in ascending order of diffi culty (1 easiest to 5 hardest) to allow teachers to diff erentiate curriculum materisl for their students. Each of these narratives represents the perspective of a diff erent group aff ected by Partition: Women, Muslims, Sikhs, Hindus, people who moved, and people who stayed in their homes. Students should be able to identify their narrator’s group and to be able to answer the appropriate Oral History Jigsaw Questions.

NOTE: Oral History Set A #1-5 are recommended for the activities included in this unit. Oral History Set B #1-5 are included for use at the teacher’s discretion for enrichment or other activities.

Sec1:27 Section One: Introductory Lessons

Partition in the Classroom: Introduction to Oral History

Sec1:28 Section One: Introductory Lessons

“Oral History… tells us less about events than about their meaning.”

Alessandro Portelli, The Death of Luigi Trastulli and Other Stories: Form and Meaning in Oral History, 50.

LESSON NOTES: This presentation is designed to introduce students to the concept of oral history interview, why we use them as historical sources, and how the personal stories can add valuable depth and complexity to standard political histories. Most recent histories of Partition (since the mid-1990s) have relied in part on oral histories of Partition survivors. This has allowed for the recovery of the stories of women and groups whose histories cannot be found in archives. This presentation emphasizes the contingent nature of remembered histories and how, as historians, we might use them to complement existing sources.

LECTURE NOTES: What is an Oral History? How are they different for other kinds of histories? An oral history is a personal history that is remembered and told usually in an interview. O ne of the things that makes oral history different from other kinds of history is that we are not necessarily looking for the “Truth” but we are looking for what events mean to people. We all remember things based on how important they are to us. When people share their memories with you they are colored by that person’s own experience, and that it what makes them unique and interesting. Think about how several people might tell you totally different stories about something that happens at school. If there was a fight, the winner would probably tell a different story than the loser, but even some one who was friends with the winner might tell a different story than some one who was friends with the loser. You would know, from how they told the story who their friend was and who they thought was right. But you wouldn’t not necessarily know the Truth about what happened. Each side might try to portray itself as a winner, as justified and right. This is what we talk about when we refer to “meaning.” An oral history can tell you as much about the narrator’s opinion as it does about the event they are describing.

Can both sides be right? One of the things that oral histories allow us to do is to see that there may be multiple perspectives on any issue. By analyzing the interviews that express those perspectives, we can better see the complexity of historical events and processes.

Sec1:29 Section One: Introductory Lessons

What are we looking for? Stories What might we find? Trauma Stereotypes Histories

LESSON NOTES: The next few slides address what the oral history might contain, and how we must read personal histories in order to make sense of them. Historians must be aware of the ways in which people speak about themselves and their own histories. By examining the presence of traumatic memories, personal stereotypes, and community or national histories, these slides provide analytical strategies and tools for reading the oral histories contained in this unit.

LECTURE NOTES: We look to oral histories to tell stories that we can’t find in archives. Archives usually keep records of things like government and trading records that we can interpret to find out about official events. Oral histories give us insight into people’s lives. So what are we looking for in oral histories?

CLICK 1: *Stories. This means stories about personal experience, what happens in families and communities, especially during times of trauma. Some communities, like women, are not represented very well in official documentation, oral histories can tell us a lot about women’s experience that we cannot find anywhere else. But even stories about how a family made the decision to move, and what they were able to take with them, for instance, wouldn’t be recorded in official documents. CLICK 2: What might we find? When we ask people to tell their stories we have to be prepared for the many kinds of stories that they will tell. These stories might be colored by their own trauma, their own stereotypes of others, and even their own sense of history. CLICK 3: *Trauma *Stereotypes *Histories

Sec1:30 Section One: Introductory Lessons

Trauma

• What we feel when our lives are turned upside down • Can come from war, rape, assault • Can come from humiliation, loss, rejection • Shock to the system - soul damage

LECTURE NOTES: What is trauma? CLICK 1: What we feel when our lives are turned upside down. Trauma is something that often comes up in interviews with people who lived through Partition. And people’s identities are often formed by the experience of trauma. CLICK 2: Can come from war, rape, assault These are big traumas that we can think of that affect both communities and countries. When people die in wars or are attacked personally, the trauma is visible, in destroyed cities and people’s injuries. But there are other kinds of trauma, too, that are not necessarily visible. CLICK 3: Can come from humiliation, loss, rejection These are traumas that people experience in everyday life, at school and work and among friends. Even though these traumas don’t involve bodily injury, they are important, and often very painful. We find both kinds of trauma during Partition. Not all of the narrators were victims of violence, or perpetrators, but their lives were disrupted and traumatized by Partition. Their lives were never the same after that. CLICK 4: Shock to the system- soul damage. What does “soul damage” mean? During partition, the trauma was not only to people’s physical bodies, but their communities were threatened and destroyed and they had to leave homes, jobs and neighbours and sometimes even family members. What if you had to pick up and leave with almost no notice? Has anyone here ever had to move and change schools? Do you remember how hard it was to adjust? That is a type of trauma, too.

Because of the trauma of Partition, people might now might identify themselves based on the things they saw and experienced, and that might have altered how they feel about Partition. For example, even if Hindus got along with Muslims before, they might now be traumatized by Partition and hold Muslims responsible, and see Pakistan as an enemy of India.

Look for how trauma comes up in the narratives that you read.

Sec1:31 Section One: Introductory Lessons

Stereotypes

• Does the narrator make assumptions based on stereotypes?

• After so many years, the stories even become stereotypes -- is this a real memory or story?

• In some of the stories you will read, the current tensions between India and Pakistan mean that people have stereotypes of the other. How might that affect the story they tell?

LECTURE NOTES: What are stereotypes?

CLICK 1: Does the narrator make assumptions based on stereotypes? As with pretty much anywhere in the world, there are many stereotypes in Indian subcontinent about other communities. Muslims might stereotype Hindus as weak because they are vegetarians. Hindus might stereotype Muslims as violent because they eat meat and many are in the army. During Partition the experiences of different communities sometimes reinforced and sometimes disrupted those stereotypes. CLICK 2: After so many years, the stories even become stereotypes-- is this a real memory or a stock story? Sometimes you can tell, especially if your narrator speaks in generalizations. Do they make broad sweeping statements, or do they tell you about specific incidents that they witnessed? Stereotypes are often fed by rumours. Many Partition narrators will say “We had heard that our community was being attacked in the next village” so we attacked them in our own village. People believed these rumours because they were afraid and because they had certain stereotypes about other communities. CLICK 3: In some of the stories you will read, the current tensions between India and Pakistan mean that people have stereotypes of the other. How might that affect the story they tell? Do people see the other country as an enemy? Can you tell? Keep on the lookout for stereotypes as you read. Can you tell how the narrator feels about a different community? Can you tell if your narrator’s experience of Partition affected the way they see another community?

Sec1:32 Section One: Introductory Lessons

Histories

• People and groups have histories

• What can a group / individual history tell us about the narrator’s experience?

• In these histories, some people dig deep to prove that the Hindu- Muslim tension was always there. Others look to recent events. Still others might say that Hindus and Muslims are eternal brothers. How does their history affect their story?

LECTURE NOTES: CLICK 1: People and groups have histories Can you think of how a personal history is linked to a group history? Do you ever think of your history as part of a group history? What about your group of friends, or a sports team you play on, or the band you play in? CLICK 2: What can a group/ individual history tell us about the narrator’s experience? Some narrators refer constantly to the history of their community. How do your narrators do this? With only the brief historical introduction you’ve had, use what you know about the history of the communities to inform how you read the narrative. CLICK 3: In these histories, some people dig deep to prove that the Hindu-Muslim tension was always there. Others look to recent events. Still others might say that Hindus and Muslims are eternal brothers. How does their history affect their story? Look for how your narrator tells his story in the context of the community he belongs to. Later, you’ll get to compare how your narrator talks about his community with how other narrators do.

Sec1:33 Section One: Introductory Lessons

Are Oral Histories Reliable?

• If people are talking about themselves, and they have all this trauma, stereotypes and history, can we believe them?

LECTURE NOTES: Do you think we can believe oral histories? Sometimes we may hear a story that we know cannot be backed up by other evidence. But this discrepancy is really interesting, because it tells us that some one has remembered it in a different way. How a narrator remembers something can tell us how they feel about the event, how the event was told to them by parents or people who were there, it can tell us how that event affects that person’s feelings now. Remember, we look for “meaning” not necessarily “Truth.” People might tell stories they believe to be true but that sometimes even contradict each other.

Think about that fight we talked about earlier -- the winner’s friends might remember very different things from the loser’s friends. But the story might change even more depending on who the narrator was telling the story to. If you were going to narrate the fight to a friend, or a parent or the principal, would you tell different stories? How would they be different? If you tell it in different ways, tell different truths, are you lying or is something else going on?

Take a look at the two following examples:

Sec1:34 Section One: Introductory Lessons

Two Histories in One

AA: Why was Pakistan created? AA: Why was Pakistan created?

GW: The founder of the nation wanted to create a progressive, democratic, AS: The founder wanted secular state in which the Muslims to be able to live in Muslim cultural peace, to live according to community would have the tenets of without the opportunity for fear. advancement.

LECTURE NOTES: Take a moment to read this paragraph. The person on the left (GW) is in his 80s now, but he supported the creation of Pakistan in 1947. He is a part of the intellectual elite, and he is a secular (non- religious) Muslim whose career benefited greatly from the creation of Pakistan where he was quickly able to rise through the ranks of the military to become a General. He didn’t come from a community that had been traumatized by violence during Partition, but his father had lost his job in government service to a Hindu.

CLICK 1: The person on the right (AS) is from a town in India that was physically threatened by violence in 1947 when Pakistan was created. He was only a little boy in 1947, about 5 years old. He moved to Pakistan and has taught in a nationalized university for most of his career—which means he worked for the government. Today he is very religious.

Do you see how these two narratives are different? What different stories do they tell? Each story is related to each individual's history, the history of the country, and also the present state of conflict between religious and secular forces in society. These stories appear side-by-side because even though they contradict each other, they are each true for the people who tell them. In order to interpret oral histories, we have to be able to understand that individuals and groups have multiple histories, and they are not static. They are always changing.

The narratives you will read represent stories told before during and after Partition. Try to figure out the narrator's perspective based on their experience of trauma, their own stereotypes and the history of their community. How do these forces come together in the story they are telling?

Sec1:35 Section One: Introductory Lessons

Introductory Activity: Push/Pull Factors of Migration

TIME NEEDED: 15 minutes Think about this question as you read your narrative: OBJECTIVE: To make connections between the migration that occurred during Partition and other human migrations. Was the Partition of the Indian Subcontinent a good SUPPLIES FOR THISidea ACTIVITY: or a bad idea? • Hemispheres’ lecture and Lesson Notes on Push-Pull factors in migration (To access these materials go to the Hemispheres’ Web site at htt p://www.utexas.edu/cola/orgs/hemispheres/resources/migration/)• What does your narrator think? • Overhead• WhatProjector do OR you black/white think? board ACTIVITY: Push/Pull Factors (from Hemispheres Web site). • DiscussIdentify the following three termsreasons with why your studentsyou came before your you decision begin: and Push factors –three Factors pieces or situations of evidence that cause from an individual your narrative to want to moveto away from a place. (Commonsupport push factors each includereason. poverty, famine, discrimination, war.)

Pull factors – Factors or situations that cause an individual to be att racted to move to a new place. (Common pull factors include high income, more job opportunities, low crime rates, anti-discrimination laws, and peace.)

• LESSONEncourage NOTES: students Th toe qtakeuestio notesn of on wh Push/Pullether the Pa factors.rtition Thw as ese a goodwill help idea them shou whenld you lead the discussion. be the guiding question as students interpret their narratives. Can they discover • theiAskr n aStudentsrrator’s petherspecti followingve on questions: this question? Can they synthesize the information the y have lea Whatrned were thro theugh pushout t factorshe unit forto mHindusake th eiduringr own Partition?assessmen t? This question ca n also help What To were guide they the for Or Muslims?al History Jigsaw/ Partition “Speed Dating”. This What are the pull factors for Hindus during Partition? qu estion also What helps were to they illum forin ateMuslims? The different between political and personal histories. During Partition, the short-sightedness Of politicians and their inability • anCreateticipate an co overhead/board/flnsequences on the ipgr ochartund ledand to record massi student-generatedve Disruption for co examplesmmunities from their knowledge of Partition. Draw four boxes. At the top of the two columns write “Push and families. The oral histories the students will read reveal some of Those Factors” and “Pull Factors.” To the left of the two rows write “Muslims” and “Hindus.” difficYouu ltiesmay awantnd tr toaum doas this and activity expose twice--fi the many rst opi forn iodecisionsns and r ealitiesthat people that exmadeist living on the side-bIndiany-sideFo side ofr dtheiffe borderrent gr oandups then thro againugho ufort t hthee pe Pakistaniriod of Pa sidertitio of nthe. border.

• Direct students to discuss push/pull factors from other migrations they know about. Students can also make connections between the migration during Partition, and the migration between Mexico and the United States or other migrations, such as the migration of people within the US aft er Hurricane Katrina.

• Direct students to evaluate how these migrations are similar and/or diff erent?

Sec1:36 Section One: Introductory Lessons

Supplementary Lesson Push/Pull Factors of Migration

TIME NEEDED: 15 minutes

OBJECTIVE: To make connections between the migration that occurred during Partition and other human migrations.

SUPPLIES FOR THIS ACTIVITY: • Hemispheres’ lecture and teachers notes on Push/Pull factors in migration (to access these materials go to the Hemispheres’ Web site at htt p://www.utexas.edu/cola/orgs/hemispheres/resources/migration/) • Overhead Projector or black/white board

ACTIVITY: Push/Pull Factors (from Hemispheres). • Discuss the following terms with your students before you begin:

Push factors – Factors or situations that cause an individual to want to move away from a place. (Common push factors include poverty, famine, discrimination, war.)

Pull factors – Factors or situations that cause an individual to be att racted to move to a new place. (Common pull factors include high income, more job opportunities, low crime rates, anti-discrimination laws, peace.)

• Encourage students to take notes on push/pull factors. Th ese will help them when you lead the discussion.

• Ask Students the following questions: What were the push factors for Hindus during Partition? What were they for Muslims? What are the pull factors for Hindus during Partition? What were they for Muslims?

• Create an overhead/board/fl ip chart and record student-generated examples from their knowledge of Partition. Draw four boxes. At the top two columns write “Push Factors” and “Pull Factors.” To the left of the two rows write “Muslims” and “Hindus.” You may want to do this activity twice--fi rst for decisions that people made living on the Indian side of the border and then again for the Pakistani side of the border.

• Direct students to discuss push/pull factors from other migrations they know about? Students can also make connections between the migration during Partition, and the migration between Mexico and the United States or other migrations, such as the migration of people within the US during Hurricane Katrina.

• Direct students to discuss how are these migrations similar and/or diff erent?

Sec1:37 Section Two: Student Activities

Section Two: Student Activities

Sec2:38 Section Two: Student Activities

Student Activity: KWL

TIME NEEDED: 8 minutes

OBJECTIVE: To recall details from the PowerPoint Lecture: Introduction to Partition and identify questions that students would like answered about the Partition of India. At the end of the day, or unit, students will complete this activity by sharing what they learned.

SUPPLIES FOR THIS ACTIVITY: • Blank 3x5 note cards or notebook paper

WARM-UP: KWL – What do you KNOW? What do you WANT to know? Th e KWL activity is a way for teachers to fi nd out what their students Know (K) and what students Want to know (W) about Partition. Th is warm-up activity helps the teacher choose the activities that best suit their schedule and students’ interests. Th rough this warm-up, the teacher assesses the knowledge that students retained from PowerPoint Lecture: Introduction to Partition and provides an opportunity for students to share prior knowledge. Th is activity can also be used to review key ideas.

• Students write down their K (Know) and W (Want to know) on a blank 3x5 note card or on a sheet of paper. Give students two minutes to do their K and W and then have students share with the class.

WRA P-UP: KWL – What did you LEARN? (Th is closing activity can be done at the end of the day or end of the unit)

• Students share in writt en form or orally with the class what they learned from the day’s lesson or the entire unit.

Sec2:39 Section Two: Student Activities

Student Activity: Partitioning the Classroom

TIME NEEDED: 20 minutes

OBJECTIVE: Students will experience the inequality of resource distribution and co- dependence of India and Pakistan by participating in an activity that will “Partition” the classroom.

SUPPLIES FOR THIS ACTIVITY: • Teacher’s Notes: Partitioning the Classroom Activity • 3x5 note cards (one for each student) • Note Card Template with “country” and resources, cut and tape/glue to 3x5 cards or recopy onto cards • Teacher’s Master List of Country Resources in 1947

ACTIVITY: Partitioning the Classroom • Pass out Partition note cards with “country” and resources to students as they walk into class, even if you plan to do another activity fi rst. (Note: Cards with a “1” designate India. Cards with a “2” designate Pakistan. Don’t tell students what the numbers mean. Let them guess aft er “Partition” takes place.)

• Establish an arbitrary line that divides the room into 1/3rd (left side of classroom) and 2/3rds (right side of classroom). Direct students move to the side of the room which corresponds to the number on their note cards. “1”s move to the right side (the larger 2/3 rds of classroom, designating India). “2”s move to the left (smaller 1/3rd of classroom, designating Pakistan).

• Each card lists a resource category and a resource. Have students group within their “country” according to resource CATEGORIES (ex: Communication, Agriculture, Government, etc.)

• Teacher calls out the master categories and students from each country share with the class their resources. Contrast the resources held by the two groups (Pakistan with India) and encourage students to identify trends and disparities between them. (See Teacher’s Notes for this activity for specifi c questions to guide the discussion)

NOTE: Th e fi rst slide of theMargaret Bourke-White Photo Analysis PowerPoint provides a nice follow-up to this lesson. It shows the division of a library’s books into the Indian side and the Pakistan side. Th is image may be used alone, to tie up the “Partitioning the Classroom” activity or as part of a Photo Analysis Activity.

Sec2:40 Section Two: Student Activities

TEACHER’S NOTES: Partitioning the Classroom Activity

Th is activity is designed to exhibit for the students the relative deprivation that Pakistan faced in 1947, and the interdependence of the Indian and Pakistani economies. Th e Partition took place so quickly that not only was the movement of populations not adequately anticipated, but the distribution of resources was terrifi cally uneven. oughTh originally conceived as 2/3 to India, and 1/3 to Pakistan, the reality was far less certain. Th e index cards should be distributed to students as they enter the room, even if the activity will not take place until later in the period. When it is time for the activity, the students with cards marked “1” (India) should go to one side of the classroom, students with cards marked “2” (Pakistan) to the other. Further, they should locate other students with the same category (CATEGORIES are in all capital lett ers). Th ere is a category “MISC.” and those students should also be grouped within each “country.” Th e students usually can fi gure out what their number represents, but a good fi rst question is: Who are you? Th is allows them to provide the information to the class. Th en, move through each category (you may not want to do all) by asking: Who has Communication/ Agriculture/ Government etc.? Th e students should announce what is in their category, and the teacher can guide them through a comparison between the resource allocation for the countries of India and Pakistan. Aft er moving through a few categories, students should begin to draw some conclusions about the relationship between the two countries. Th ese might include: • Pakistan produced a lot of agricultural raw materials (jute, cott on, irrigation) but had very few factories for processing agricultural goods. • India had many factories, but did not produce many agricultural raw materials. • Pakistan had a well-developed military infrastructure (Military Headquarters, 500 British Offi cers, A Training School) but no factories to manufacture ammunition. • India had multiple national languages (which later mitigated separatist tendencies articulated around linguistic discrimination). Pakistan insisted on only and English, thus alienating minority linguistic and ethnic groups (ultimately leading to the secession of East Pakistan/ Bangladesh in 1971). • more religiously diverse than Pakistan, but still had a caste system. • India had a bett er-developed Governmental infrastructure (Postal System, Currency) and a young leader who was Prime Minister until 1964. Pakistan’s Governor-General died of tuberculosis in September 1948, only a year aft er Pakistan’s independence.

Th e “MISC.” Categories can provide opportunities for creative analysis. It is useful to ask the students who have the “MISC.” categories to read out what is on their cards, and then to query them about it. Some questions we found fruitful include: • Why is Gandhi considered a resource? Answer: Even though Gandhi was not offi cially a member of the Indian National Congress Party, he was an important leader. During Partition, he lived in a poor area of Calcutt a and is credited with keeping peace there. Calcutt a had been torn apart by violence only one year before in the Great Calcutt a Killings (see Historical Overview) so Gandhi’s peacekeeping actions are considered highly valuable. • Why would it have been helpful to have many seaports? Answer: India was able to continue overseas import and export with relatively litt le disruption because of its well-

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established seaport network. • Why are Wonders of the World included as resources? Answer: Th e inclusion of both the Taj Mahal (1- India) and the Ruins of Two Ancient Civilizations (2- Pakistan) demonstrate that both countries have long histories characterized by diff erent architecture. Additionally however, all of these sites are tourist att ractions, and potential revenue sources for both countries. Can the students name the Ancient Civilizations from the Pakistan side? (Mohenjodaro, ) • What might be the relative benefi ts of having Natural Gas Reserves or Coal Reserves? Answer: Both are extremely valuable. Coal is used for producing electricity, natural gas is valuable as a cleaner source of energy and a potential energy export for Pakistan.

Th e resources listed on these cards are designed to be largely symbolic and should not be considered exhaustive or comprehensive. Th is list was compiled from consultation with a variety of textual and internet sources (see Bibliography). Th ey should be understood to represent the relationship between resources as they were allocated between India and Pakistan. Th e fi rst slide included in the Margaret Bourke-White Photo Analysis PowerPoint shows the division of library books. Th e Pakistan stack is larger than the India stack. Questioning the students about why the Pakistan stack is larger provides a nice way to tie up the issue of resource distribution. It encourages students to see past the obvious inference that India got everything and Pakistan got nothing. What is the man doing? Why might he look so frustrated? Are these books in a Pakistani library that are being divided? Can you tell for sure? Th e Partitioning the Classroom exercise allows students to physically experience the disruptions of Partition, and the arbitrariness of the division of resources.

NOTE: Th ere are 32 cards for India and 26 for Pakistan. Use all of the cards, by giving some students more then one card, or you may be selective and use the cards that will be most productive for discussion.

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Teacher's Notes: Partitioning the Classroom Resource Master List INDIA PAKISTAN

AGRICULTURE: AGRICULTURE: 50% Arable Land 5 Major River Systems 7 Major River Systems Major Network of Irrigation Canals Plantations 23% Arable Land Farms Jute Farms : FACTORY: Jute Textile Factory Ammunition Cotton/ Textiles Sugar Processing GOVERNMENT: GOVERNMENT: Established Currency 95 Officers 1000 Civil Service Officers Aging Governor General (Jinnah) Established Postal System Young Prime Minister (Nehru) Established National Capital (New Delhi) COMMUNICATION: COMMUNICATION: Tamil National Language Urdu National Language Bengali National Language English National Language Punjabi National Language Balochi Regional Language Kannada National Language Punjabi Regional Language English National Language Pashto Regional Language Gujarati National Language Bengali National Language Marathi National Language Sindhi Regional Language Sindhi National Language 4 Major Newspapers Malayam National Language Assamese National Language Orayi National Language / Urdu National Language English National Language 31 National Newspapers

INDIA PAKISTAN

MISC.: MISC. Natural Resources: Coal Natural Resources: Natural Gas Reserves Leadership: Trade: 1 Seaport Trade: 12 Major Seaports Infrastructure: Major Railroad Network Population: 361 Million Population: 30 Million Land: 1.3 Million Square Miles Land: 366,000 Square Miles Infrastructure: Major Railroad Network

MILITARY: MILITARY: Large Army British Commander-in-Chief of the Army British Commander-in-Chief of Army 500 British Officers Army Training School Military Training School Small Army RELIGION: RELIGION: Islam Islam Sikhism Hindu Caste System

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1 1 COMMUNICATION: COMMUNICATION: Tamil National Kannada National Language Language

1 1 COMMUNICATION: COMMUNICATION: Bengali National English National Language Language

1 1 COMMUNICATION: COMMUNICATION: Punjabi National Gujarati National Language Language

1 1 COMMUNICATION: COMMUNICATION: Marathi National Sindhi National Language Language

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1 1 COMMUNICATION: COMMUNICATION: National Orayi National Language Language

1 1 COMMUNICATION: COMMUNICATION: Assamese National Hindi/ Urdu National Language Language

1 1 COMMUNICATION: COMMUNICATION: English National 31 Major Language Newspapers

1 1 (MISC.) NATURAL (MISC.) RESOURCES: COAL LEADERSHIP: (4th largest reserve Mahatma Gandhi in the world)

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1 1 (MISC.) (MISC.) TRADE: 12 POPULATION: 361 Major Sea Ports Million

1 1 (MISC.) WONDERS (MISC.) LAND: 1.3 OF THE WORLD: Taj million square miles Mahal 1 (MISC.) 1 INFRASTRUCTURE: AGRICULTURE: Major Railroad Sugar Plantations Network

1 1 AGRICULTURE: AGRICULTURE: 7 Major River 50% Arable Land Systems

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1 1 FACTORY: FACTORY: Jute Cotton/Textiles

1 1 FACTORY: FACTORY: Sugar Ammunition Refineries

1 1 GOVERNMENT: GOVERNMENT: Established Young Prime Currency Minister (Nehru)

1 1 GOVERNMENT: GOVERNMENT: 1000 Civil Service Established National Officers Capital (New Delhi)

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1 GOVERNMENT: 1 Established Postal RELIGION: Islam System

1 1 RELIGION: Hindu RELIGION: Sikhism Caste System

1 1 RELIGION: MILITARY: Large Hinduism Army

1 1 MILITARY: British MILITARY: Army Commander-in- Training School Chief of Army

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2 2 COMMUNICATION: COMMUNICATION: Urdu National English National Language Language

2 2 COMMUNICATION: COMMUNICATION: Balochi Regional Punjabi Regional Language Language

2 2 COMMUNICATION: COMMUNICATION: Bengali Regional Sindhi Regional Language Language

2 2 COMMUNICATION: COMMUNICATION: Pashto Regional 4 Major Newspapers Language

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2 2 (MISC.) WONDER (MISC.) TRADE: OF THE WORLD: One (1) Sea Port Ruins of Two Ancient Civilizations 2 2 (MISC.) LAND: (MISC.) 366,000 Square POPULATION: 30 Miles Million

2 2 (MISC.) NATURAL AGRICULTURE: RESOURCES: 5 Major River Natural Gas Systems Reserves

2 2 AGRICULTURE: AGRICTULTURE: Major Network of 23% Arable Land Irrigation Canals

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2 2 AGRICULTURE: AGRICULTURE: Cotton Farms Jute Farms

2 2 GOVERNMENT: FACTORY: Textile 95 Civil Service Factory Officers

2 GOVERNMENT: 2 Aging Governor- RELIGION: Islam General (Jinnah)

2 2 MILITARY: British MILITARY: Commander-in- 500 British Officers Chief of the Army

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2 2 MILITARY: MILITARY: Military Training Small Army School

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Student Activity: Margaret Bourke-White Photo Analysis

TIME NEEDED: 20-30 minutes

OBJECTIVE: Students will analyze historical photographs of Partition taken by Life Magazine photographer Margaret Bourke-White to develop a more detailed understanding of the impacts of the Partition on and Pakistan.

(WARNING: Images are graphic and teachers should consider editing for younger classes.)

SUPPLIES FOR THIS ACTIVITY: • Computer with PowerPoint and an LCD projector • Margaret Bourke-White Photo PowerPoint with Lesson Notes • Print out of photos with Lesson Notes and questions • OPTIONAL: Printed copies of each photo (for Alternate Activity below) • OPTIONAL: Photo Analysis Worksheet (for Alternate Activity below)

ACTIVITY: Photo Analysis – Interactive PowerPoint Lecture Format Th e length of this activity is fl exible depending on how many images you choose to have students analyze. Th is activity was consistently the students’ favorite part of the unit, based on anonymous feedback aft er a number of trial runs of this unit.

• Preview Lesson Notes, included on the Margaret Bourke-White Photo PowerPoint.

• Show photos one at a time and ask students to analyze what they see in each photo. Th e idea is for students to discover the meaning and context for the photos in this PowerPoint, by way of open-ended questions which are included in the PowerPoint notes.

ALTERNATIVE ACTIVITY: Photo Analysis – Group Work Format Th e length of this activity is fl exible depending on how many images you choose to have students analyze.

• Print out the photos from the PowerPoint onto regular or photo paper.

• Break the students up into groups of 3-4 to analyze each photo (multiple groups may work on the same photo). Direct students to use the Photo Analysis Worksheet and to identify important symbols, markers of identity, emotional state of people in the photo, etc.

• Use the PowerPoint to project each image and have groups lead a discussion of their image and point out what they saw to the class.

• Use the Lesson Notes in Margaret Bourke-White Photo PowerPoint to guide the analysis if groups have trouble.

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Photograph Analysis Worksheet

A. Observation Study the photograph for 2 minutes. Form an overall impression of the image and then examine individual items in the image. Divide the image into four sections and study each to see what new details become visible. Use the chart below to write down your observations. List people, objects and activities in the image. PEOPLE OBJECTS ACTIVITIES

B. Deductions Based on your observations above, list three things you might deduce from this image. 1.

2.

3.

C. Questions What questions does this images raise in your mind? List two. 1.

2.

How might you go about fi nding answers to your questions?

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Partition in the Classroom: Margaret Bourke-White Photo Analysis

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LESSON NOTES: The following slides are designed to offer a lesson on how to analyze an image as a primary source. This image shows a man charged with dividing the books in a library as a part of the Partition division of resources. He looks obviously frustrated! This shows a bit about how complicated the process of division was in practice. Lands, peoples, canals, roads, telephones, telegraphs, and material resources all had to be divided.

PHOTO CITATION: (Life Magazine, August 1947)

QUESTIONS FOR GUIDED DISCUSSION: What is this man doing? Why, if India is bigger and got a bigger share of the resources, is the Pakistan stack bigger? This man is probably working the side of the border that ultimately became Pakistan.

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LESSON NOTES: The following photographs by Life photographer Margaret Bourke-White are designed to show the reality of the day-to-day experience of Partition. They show some of the basic experiences: riding in trains, walking across the border, violence in cities, starvation, etc. These primary source documents should be objects for discussion that both prepare the students for broader discussion and for primary source document analysis.

BBC CAPTION: In 1947, the border between India and its new neighbour Pakistan became a river of blood, as the exodus erupted into rioting. These pictures are by Margaret Bourke-White from Khushwant Singh's book Train to Pakistan, Roli Books. (http://news.bbc.co.uk)

QUESTIONS FOR GUIDED DISCUSSION: What is happening here? Do you recognize any symbols that might indicate what group of people is in the train? The Crescent and are symbols of Islam- which direction do you think this train is going? Why kind of people are in the train? Can you tell if they are rich or poor?

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BBC Caption: Millions left for their promised new homeland with smiles on their faces as trains left both India and Pakistan. This is a train to Pakistan being given a warm send-off. (http://news.bbc.co.uk)

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BBC Caption: Over 10 million people were uprooted from their homeland and travelled on foot, bullock carts and trains to their promised new home. (http://news.bbc.co.uk)

QUESTIONS FOR GUIDED DISCUSSION: What kind of people are shown in this slide? Can you tell if they are headed to India or Pakistan? There is nothing obvious in their appearance to tell us whether they are Muslims or Hindus, they don’t have any , or signs. Can you tell anything from the way they are dressed? What kinds of things are they carrying?

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BBC Caption: The massive exchange of population that took place in the summer of 1947 was unprecedented. It left behind a trail of death and destruction. The Indian map was slashed to make way for a new country - Pakistan. (http://news.bbc.co.uk)

QUESTIONS FOR GUIDED DISCUSSION: Who is being carried here? What kind of vehicle is in the background?

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BBC Caption: The migration was a "massive exercise in human misery," wrote Bourke-White later. (http://news.bbc.co.uk)

QUESTIONS FOR GUIDED DISCUSSION: What about these people is different from the people in the previous pictures? Which direction are they going? Can you tell what the weather was like? Are they organized?

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BBC Caption: An aged and abandoned Muslim couple and their grand children sitting by the the roadside on this arduous journey. "The old man is dying of exhaustion. The caravan has gone on," wrote Bourke-White. (http://news.bbc.co.uk)

QUESTIONS FOR GUIDED DISCUSSION: What is happening to this family? If the old man dies, what will happen to the children? What do their faces tell you?

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BBC Caption: In a couple of months in the summer of 1947, a million people were slaughtered on both sides in the religious rioting. Here, bodies of the victims of rioting are picked up from a city street. (http://news.bbc.co.uk)

NOTES FOR GUIDED DISCUSSION: One thing that comes out when we study Partition is how much violence there was, especially in cities, starting as early as a year before Partition in Calcutta, and spreading to Lahore and Rawalpindi (see Historical Overview handout) It is difficult to know how many people died because everything was so disrupted, some people were lost and many women were kidnapped.

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BBC Caption: Men, women and children who died in the rioting were cremated on a mass scale. Villagers even used oil and kerosene when wood was scarce. (http://news.bbc.co.uk)

QUESTIONS FOR GUIDED DISCUSSION: What are these men doing in this picture? What kind of people in India get cremated? Can you tell where this is happening? --The light post indicates that the bodies are being cremated in the middle of the street, rather than in a cremation ground as would normally be required. There were so many dead that they were cremated where they fell.

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BBC Caption: "The street was short and narrow. Lying like the garbage across the street and in its open gutters were bodies of the dead," writes Bourke-White's biographer Vicki Goldberg of this scene. (http://news.bbc.co.uk)

QUESTIONS FOR GUIDED DISCUSSION: There are human bodies in the streets, who or what is on the roof?

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BBC Caption: With the tragic legacy of an uncertain future, a young refugee sits on the walls of , transformed into a vast refugee camp in Delhi. (http://news.bbc.co.uk)

NOTES FOR GUIDED DISCUSSION: The Delhi refugee camp shown here was at the site of one of the old Muslim forts. The camp was notorious for the poor conditions, no water, no food. The residents were unable to leave it because of fear of mob violence outside. Some families lived in this camp for years. How old do you think this guy is? Maybe 14? 15?

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BBC Caption: Families were cut to half as men were killed leaving women to fend for themselves. (http://news.bbc.co.uk)

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Student Activity: Political Cartoon Activity

TIME NEEDED: 30-45 minutes

OBJECTIVE: To analyze components of political cartoons about Partition. To engage students’ Multiple Intelligences to create interpretive materials about Partition.

SUPPLIES FOR THIS ACTIVITY: • Computer with PowerPoint and LCD projector • Political Cartoon PowerPoint • Print out of Lesson Notes from PowerPoint • Cartoon Analysis Worksheet • Copies of Creative Product Rubrics (Note: Th ere are two rubrics – one for the creative products and one for the writt en analysis.)

ACTIVITY: Political Cartoon Analysis • Use Lesson Notes included in PowerPoint to guide analysis of political cartoons.

• Use the fi rst cartoon “Woman Sawed in Half” to teach students how to analyze political cartoons. Students should be able to identify the key players in the cartoons, to interpret the symbols, and assess the cartoonist’s perspective.

• Introduce Creative Product Rubrics. Th e “Woman Sawed in Half” cartoon can be used as an exemplar of a creative product that would have met/exceeded all of the requirements of the assignment. Students can assess the “Woman Sawed in Half” cartoon by using the Partition of India Creative Product rubric.

• Use additional cartoons in the PowerPoint to use at your discretion (or as time allows) to reinforce these analytical skills and to show multiple perspectives on Partition from both Muslim and Hindu cartoonists.

• Encourage students to think about what kind of historical information is conveyed by political cartoons. Who reads them?

• Students break up into pairs or work solo. Th e balance of class time is devoted to choosing a partner or a topic and meeting with the teacher for clarifi cation and consultation on how to create their interpretive materials.

HOMEWORK: Choose product and begin work on the Multiple Intelligences assessment. Students will create a script for a skit, a political cartoon, a comic strip or a writt en analysis.

ALTERNATE ACTIVITY: Political Cartoon Analysis - Interactive Lecture Format • Hand out copies of the cartoons and the Cartoon Analysis Worksheet and have students work in groups to analyze some of the cartoons as a basis for an interactive, discussion- based presentation of the cartoons.

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Name: Class: Date: CARTOON ANALYSIS WORKSHEET

Directions: Study the cartoon for two minutes to form an overall impression, and then examine individual items. On a separate sheet of paper, draw one line down the center of the page and another across the middle. Write “Visuals” at the top of the first column and “Words” at the top of the second. Write your answers to the questions in Step One and Step Two in the four boxes. Write your answers to the questions in Step Three at the bottom of this worksheet.

VISUALS WORDS

STEP ONE: OBSERVATION 1. List the objects or people you see in the 1. Identify the cartoon caption and/or title. cartoon. 2. Locate three words or phrases used by the 2. Describe any action that takes place in the cartoonist to identify objects or people cartoon. within the cartoon (Not all cartoons include words)

3. Record any important dates or numbers that appear in the cartoon.

STEP TWO: INFERENCE 1. Which of the objects on your list might be 1. Which Words or phrases in the cartoon symbols? appear to be the most significant? Why do you think so?

2. What do you think each of the symbols 2. List adjectives that describe the emotions means? portrayed in the cartoon.

STEP THREE: SYNTHESIS A. In your words, explain how the words in the cartoon explain or clarify the symbols.

B. In your own words, explain the message of the cartoon.

C. What groups would agree/disagree with the cartoon’s message? Why?

D. What questions does the cartoon raise in your mind? Where might you find answers?

Adapted from “Teaching with Documents” from the National Archives and Records Administration.

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Partition in the Classroom: Political Cartoon Analysis

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LESSON NOTES: This is a perfect slide for showing how a single cartoon can fit all of the requirements of the rubric for creating an interpretive product using these materials. The students can interpret this one aloud as a model for the analyses of the other cartoons, whether you choose to do them all as a group or to print them out and have the students work on them individually or in teams.

The cartoon shows all of the major players: Gandhi as a passive onlooker (in the upper left), the British worrying about the dangers (in the upper right), Nehru, representing the Indian National Congress (upper left center) and Jinnah representing the Muslim League (lower right corner). India the nation is represented by the woman in the box who Jinnah and Nehru are violently dividing. Her expression is ambiguous, but her mouth is not visible, she cannot voice her opinion. The cartoon shows that the Hindustan end of the box is larger, so that India gets all of the vital parts of the body: mind, heart, organs, whereas Pakistan gets the lower parts-- legs, feet-- which cannot function without the brain and heart. It appears to be a simple division, but further inspection reveals the difficulty of the project. The pile of sawdust on the ground can be seen as the neglected groups of people who were affected by Partition-- Sikhs, Christians-- or as all of the issues the British didn’t consider that just kept piling up. The division didn’t just make problems disappear. The saw being used represents the violent nature of the Partition- it was not a delicate magic trick!

QUESTIONS FOR GUIDED DISCUSSION: Does the cartoon represent the major players? How? Can you tell anything about their emotions? Who is in the Upper Right Corner? What is he worried about? Are the represented? Does it show an understanding of the complexities of Partition? Does the cartoon make the Partition division look even and equal? Does the cartoon make Partition look easy? Does the cartoon represent the perspective of one side or the other? What else do you see?

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LESSON NOTES: This cartoon represents a similar scene, but the woman in the box is represented as a Western Classical figure- perhaps representing the Nation or Justice. The British Prime Minister Clement Atlee, Mohammad Ali Jinnah, and Jawaharlal Nehru are all onlookers (in different states of agitation) as Mountbatten destroys the unity of the Nation. Here, the upper/lower divide seen in the last cartoon is reversed. Pakistan is the recipient of the vital organs, India of the legs. The cartoonist, a Hindu, portrays the idea that Pakistan was getting a better deal from the British. This cartoon represents Indian agency/ role as essentially passive, as the British notions of Nation and are destroyed by their own hand. The caption shows the anxiety the British felt at accepting the finality of the division, and their hope that the Nation would trump the individual demands of Indian communal (religious) groups. (Civil and Military Gazette, uJ ly 22, 1947)

QUESTIONS FOR GUIDED DISCUSSION: How is this cartoon different from the other cartoon showing India being sawed in half? Who is in the box? Which leaders are represented here? Who is the guy in the middle? What are the Indian leaders doing? Are the Indian people represented? What do we learn from the caption? What do we learn from the title? Whose perspective is represented here? Do we have any information about the cartoonist that might help us to interpret this cartoon?

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LESSON NOTES: This cartoon pokes fun at the disconnect between Indian leaders and the Indian people. The leaders struggle for independence at the expense of order and security in India. There had been violence in the Punjab and throughout Northern India for several months before August 1947. Many observers feel that the Indian and British governments ignored this violence, and its long-term implications in their drive for a specific vision of Independence. In this cartoon, the Indian political interests/ leaders are portrayed as isolated and confused as violence and famine rage around them. •The United States appears in this cartoon for the first time, supporting the Indian movement for independence and the ideals of democracy against . However, as the largest figure in the picture, the US interest is portrayed primarily in terms of its own economic interest in India. At the feet of “U.S. Sympathies” sits an Indian woman, fearfully cuddling her child in the shadow of the political leaders. •Gandhi sits at his spinning wheel, identified as “Swaraj” or self-rule. Clearly the “self-rule” that rages around him is not what he imagined, and this cartoon critiques his reliance on local production as a means to future self-reliance while offering no solutions to the violence as all order breaks down around him. •Nehru/ Congress Activists appear as a “one trick pony” only able to suggest that the British leave at any cost, but unable to quell the unrest raging as vultures descend on famine- ravaged bodies. •The critique of Jinnah, center, focuses on the idea that he was a “Pukka Sahib” or “Proper (British) Gentleman” and inherently disconnected from the needs of the people. Jinnah was known for wearing tailored suits and being particular about his luxuries. His sign advocates for independence from the British, but is clearly a critique of his ability to represent common people, isolated as he was in his wealthy and political world. (Leslie Gilbert Illingworth, May 20, 1947)

QUESTIONS FOR GUIDED DISCUSSION: What major figures are represented in this cartoon? What do you learn from their expressions? Who is the big guy on the right? What is he doing in the cartoon? What does his sign mean? Where are the British? What is happening around the leaders? Where are the Indian People? What is the cartoonist’s message?

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LESSON NOTES: This cartoon shifts the critique to comment on the relationship between the Indian National Congress, the British Government, and The Muslim League. Nehru had just been elected as Prime Minister of the Congress only “Interim Government.” He prepares to guide his mount, a massive elephant, into the independent future. The departing British leader tips his hat to Nehru in a sign of respect that acknowledges common sympathies and a common mission. Jinnah, however, is portrayed as a spoiler. He is threatening to blow up the whole amicable arrangement with dynamite. The Muslim League was excluded from the “Interim Government” and had organized a protest called “Direct Action Day” that led to massive violence in Calcutta in August 1946. The cartoonist draws attention to the Muslim League effort to undermine the natural succession of the (Hindu) Indian National Congress to the Government of India. The Indian people, represented as the elegant lady in the palanquin, are mere onlookers. The lady does not raise the alarm, nor can she stop Jinnah from his act of sabotage though she is surely the one who will suffer. Both Nehru and the British are seemingly unaware of Jinnah’s intention, but he will soon derail the orderly transfer of power. (Leslie Gilbert Illingworth, September 2, 1946)

QUESTIONS FOR GUIDED DISCUSSION: How is the relationship between Nehru and the British portrayed in this cartoon? Who is the lady riding on the elephant? What is Jinnah doing? Is Nehru aware of Jinnah’s intention? What is the cartoonist trying to convey about Jinnah’s role in the transfer of power? How are the portrayals of Nehru and Jinnah different? What does this tell you about the cartoonist’s point of view?

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LESSON NOTES: This cartoon suggests that independence and the creation of Pakistan are inexorably linked, neither will happen without the other. However, the cartoon critiques the inability of Congress leaders to see this inevitability. Gandhi is sandwiched in between Nehru and (the “hanger-on”), a Muslim leader of the Indian National Congress. None are looking where the donkey, representing the Congress Party is heading. In the party’s zeal to reach the carrot of Akhand Hindustan or “Free Hindustan” (another name for India) they risk driving the whole independence project off a cliff. The caption reveals Nehru’s intransigence on the issue of Pakistan. The cartoonist, Ahmed, a Muslim, clearly believes that independence is impossible without the creation of Pakistan and that Congress resistance to Pakistan will destroy the whole independence project. Because of their inability to see ahead, Congress will be headed over the cliff before the leaders know what hit them. (, April 7, 1946)

QUESTIONS FOR GUIDED DISCUSSION: Who is on the donkey? What do the carrots represent? Where is the donkey going and who is urging it on? Why are the riders facing backward? What does the sign say in the top left corner? If independence is behind them, why aren’t they going that way? What does the caption tell you? Do you think the cartoonist is a Hindu or a Muslim? Does the cartoonist support Pakistan or the Indian National Congress? What does the title “Going, Going….!” mean?

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LESSON NOTES: This cartoon refers to a short-lived plan for Pakistan that included not only the Eastern territory of Bengal (that became East Pakistan) and the Western territory that we now call Pakistan, it also included the southern Muslim principality of Hyderabad. Hyderabad was ruled by a prince, called The , and his territory was never fully under British rule. The Nizam was resistant to being incorporated into India after independence and considered acceding to Pakistan. The impracticality of this idea is obvious from the cartoon, but then the East/West Pakistan arrangement that came into being in 1947 was impractical, too. One idea proffered by the Muslim League to solve the difficulty of the country of Pakistan being separated by India, was to create a Muslim corridor that would link the territories. The graphic image here makes fun of that possibility by showing how much Indian territory would be taken up by this plan. The image of Hitler in Europe is clearly intended to convey the idea that Jinnah must be stopped as he hatches a plan to take over all of India. During the independence movement, Jinnah was frequently portrayed as a Hitler-figure, with diabolical intentions. •Jinnah is portrayed as the painter, with his diminutive #2 man, (who became first Prime Minister of Pakistan) looking on in support. •The British examine Jinnah’s plan, and appear to be considering it. The cartoonist is also critiquing what he perceives as British willingness to appease Jinnah’s every desire. In the wake of World War II, the issue of appeasement had been widely criticized. The cartoonist warns the British of falling into the same trap with Jinnah as they did with Hitler. •In the upper right corner Adolf Hitler with his side-man Herman Goering hatch a similar plan to take over the territory of Europe. The cartoonist uses Hitler as a foil for Jinnah to convey the threat that Jinnah poses to India, with the complicity of the British. (Tribune, April 15, 1946)

QUESTIONS FOR GUIDED DISCUSSION: What territories are connected by the black areas on the map of India? Who is painting them? Who is the littlef at man standing beside him? Who looks on? What is going on in the upper right corner? What is the parallel that the cartoonist sees between Hitler and Jinnah? Why does the cartoonist deploy this comparison? What does the cartoonist think about Pakistan?

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LESSON NOTES: Jinnah was known, until the late 1930s as “The Ambassador of Hindu-Muslim Unity.” Prior to becoming the leader of the Muslim League, he had been a prominent member and leader of the Indian National Congress and had fought for reconciliation of the Hindu and Muslim points of view. This cartoon depicts Jinnah’s shift from a of Hindu-Muslim unity, to its destroyer, as he supported the Pakistan. Pakistan was seen as the final settlement of the Hindu- Muslim question, and one that accepted the inherent incompatibility of the two groups. Thus, Pakistan represented the final destruction of Hindu-Muslim Unity.

This cartoon sho ws Jinnah’s political shift over time, from one who admires the elegant statue of Hindu-Muslim unity, then tries to re-color it with paint. He goes on to change its shape a little bit, by removing the hands with a machete. Finally, with a large mallet, and then two mallets, he aggressively attacks the idea of Hindu-Muslim unity, breaking it to bits. The British look on, but do nothing to intervene. Again, here Jinnah is portrayed as a spoiler. This cartoon, and the many that portray Jinnah in such a negative light reveal the feeling in India that he single-handedly destroyed the unity and integrity of India. His claims, and thus the claims of Muslims were seen as self-important and destructive. This view attributes little or no responsibility for Partition to Nehru and the Indian National Congress Leadership, or to the British, and isolates Jinnah as the enemy. (Hindustan Times, New Delhi, April 4, 1946)

QUESTIONS FOR GUIDED DISCUSSION: What is the statue in this picture? What does “Indian Unity” mean? What is Jinnah doing in each frame? How does his perspective on the statue change? What is the final result? Who looks on? What are they doing? What is the cartoonist saying about Jinnah? Does the cartoonist support Pakistan or India? END OF PRESENTATION

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Student Activity: Short Story Analysis – “Toba Tek Singh”

TIME NEEDED: 15-45 minutes Time may be allott ed in class for reading, or reading can be assigned as homework. Allow 15 minutes for discussion.

OBJECTIVE: To get an intimate and creative perspective on the transfer of populations during Partition by reading and analyzing a short story about Partition. To synthesize knowledge of the events of Partition in a student-led analysis of the short story “Toba Tek Singh” by Saadat Hassan Manto.

SUPPLIES FOR THIS ACTIVITY: • Copies of short story “Toba Tek Singh” (master copy is included on CD) • Copies of “Toba Tek Singh” Discussion Questions • Teacher’s Notes for “Toba Tek Singh”

ACTIVITY: Discussion of “Toba Tek Singh” • Students read short story “Toba Tek Singh” either in class or for homework and answer Discussion Questions. Teachers can collect these for a grade to asses learning.

• Use Teacher’s Notes and Discussion Questions to guide discussion.

• Students synthesize their knowledge from the Introduction to Partition PowerPoint and other activities in their analysis of “Toba Tek Singh.”

• Encourage students to think about how literature can be used to provide historical information.

• Additional Discussion Questions: • What does this short story teach us about Partition? • How is this source diff erent from the Introduction to Partition PowerPoint? • Should the lunatics have been moved? • Why does the author use the word “lunatic?” What might this word tell us about the author’s perspective on Partition? • Why couldn’t anyone tell Bishen Singh where his village, Toba Tek Singh, was located? • Why do people call Bishen Singh “Toba Tek Singh?” • Should Bishen Singh have been allowed to stay in Pakistan?

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TEACHER’S NOTES: Short Biography of Saadat Hasan Manto

Adadpted from Manto, Saadat Hasan. A Wet Afternoon: Stories Sketches Reminiscences. Translated by Khalid Hasan. Islamabad: Alhamra, 2001.

Saadat Hasan Manto, the most widely read and the most controversial short story writer in Urdu, was born on 11 May 1912 at in Punjab’s district (now in India). In a literary, journalistic, radio scripting and fi lm-writing career spread over more than two decades, he produced 22 collections of short stories, one novel, fi ve collections of radio play, three collections of essays, two collections of personal sketches and many scripts for fi lms. During the Second World War, he worked for All India Radio in Delhi, but the best years of his life were spent in Bombay where he was associated with some of the leading fi lm studios, including Imperial Film Company, Bombay Talkies and Filmistan. He wrote over a dozen fi lms. He was a member of the Progressive Writers’ Movement based in Lahore. Th e left -oriented movement included other Hindi and Urdu literary fi gures such as Faiz Ahmed Faiz, the poet laureate of Pakistan, also known for his poetry and stories about Partition; Ahmed Ali, author of Twilight in Delhi; Krishan Chander, , and Kaifi Azmi. Manto moved to Pakistan in January 1948. Manto’s greatest work was produced in the last seven years of his life, a time of great fi nancial and emotional hardship for him. He died several months short of his 43rd birthday in January 1955 in Lahore.

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TEACHER’S NOTES: “Toba Tek Singh” by Saadat Hasan Manto

Manto, Saadat Hasan. A Wet Afternoon: Stories Sketches Reminiscences Translated by Khalid Hasan. Islamabad: Alhamra, 2001.

“Toba Tek Singh,” one of Manto’s most famous short stories of India’s Partition tells the fi ctional story of the inmates of the Lahore Insane Asylum as they face being transferred to India two years aft er their families and co-religionists had gone. Th ough it sounds harsh to our ears, Manto uses the word “lunatic” to refer to them, and the edginess of this word has been carefully retained in the best translations. Th e lunatics of the Lahore Asylum are confused by the talk of transfer. Th ey know litt le about the Partition, its motivation or meaning, and there are no immediate factors aff ecting their well-being that make it seem necessary for there to be a change in their location. Th ey ask, “If they were in Pakistan, then how come that until only the other day it was India?” Th is struggle illuminates for the reader the plight of many residents of the Punjab, who, in 1947, were at the mercy of negotiating governments who made decisions about the people’s future on their behalf. Th e sane, like the lunatics, were caught in the same perplexing history. Th roughout much of the story, the lunatics try in vain to get information about the Partition, and their impending transfer. Many are driven to especially erratic behavior, one strips naked and runs into the garden. Some wonder about their future, “Will breakfast continue to be served or would they have to subsist on bloody Indian chapatt i?” One lunatic in particular, a Sikh, Bishen Singh, is known colloquially by the name of his village Toba Tek Singh. Th roughout the story he tries to fi nd out in which country his village has been located, but no one ever off ers him a straight answer. His anxiety mounts as the day of transfer approaches. To him, and to other inmates, the categories of India and Pakistan are unstable and unfamiliar. Th ey ask, “Who could say if both India and Pakistan might not entirely vanish from the map of the world one day?” When a Muslim from his village comes to visit, Bishen Singh asks him, “Where is Toba Tek Singh?” His friend answers, “Where? Why, where it has always been.” Bishen Singh demands to know whether it is in India or Pakistan, and his old neighbor, his link to his native place answers unsatisfactorily, “In India… no, in Pakistan.” When Bishen Singh and the other lunatics are taken to the border in trucks they resist being transferred and do everything they can to disrupt the proceedings. Bishen Singh approaches a border guard and asks him were Toba Tek Singh is located. Th e guard answers sardonically, “In Pakistan,” and laughs at Bishen Singh’s plight. At this point in the story, Bishen Singh (who is rumoured not to have sat down or slept in 15 years and has horribly swollen legs to prove it) establishes himself in the middle of the border crossing, a no man’s land of several yards between the two immigration points, and stands stock still. Night falls and he stands there all night. Just before sunrise, he lets out a terrible scream and falls on his face. Th e story ends with Toba Tek Singh, the man— who symbolizes his village— lying in this in-between place, this no man’s land. Th e ambiguity of his position is furthered by the fact that the author does not clarify if he is alive or dead. Th ough it take places two years later, this story is one of the most accessible stories about Partition. It implicitly questions who is sane and who is a lunatic, as the inmates seem frightened and confused by the transfer of populations, but the supposedly sane have actually gone through with it. It draws att ention to the fact that Partition was organized by politicians, people removed from the day-to-day life of the average people. It further exposes the trauma of separation and

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the deep link that have to their land. It is no accident that Bishen Singh is a Sikh, not a Muslim or Hindu. Th e position of the Sikhs was ambiguous. Th ey were a powerful community without the population to really be infl uential in the negotiations, but it was their ancestral homeland that was divided in the Partition. Th eir position was never resolved; though most of the Sikhs migrated to India, some remained in Pakistan to guard their holy places which became part of Pakistan. As Bishen Singh comes to symbolize his village, becomes one with it, it becomes impossible for him to go to India, though his family awaits him there. His relationship with his native place is stronger than his relationship to family or to state, and he is left , alone, in between.

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QUESTIONS ON THE READING: “Toba Tek Singh” by Sadaat Hasan Manto

1. What do the countries of India and Pakistan propose to do with the lunatics? Why does this upset them?

2. Who is Bishen Singh and where is he from? What is his position at the end of the story?

3. What does the author suggest about the “sanity” or “insanity” of the idea of Partition? What do the lunatics in the asylums teach us about Partition?

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Student Activity: Reading Oral Histories of Partition

TIME NEEDED: Time may be allott ed in class, or oral histories may be assigned for homework.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the strengths and the limitations of oral history narratives. Students will be able to use oral histories as primary sources for analysis of historical events.

SUPPLIES FOR THIS ACTIVITY: • Copies of oral histories for students – Students will be assigned (in pairs) to read the oral histories. Note: Th e Oral Histories vary in length and diffi culty so they can be assigned to students based on the students’ reading ability and achievement, thus supporting diff erentiated instruction. Th e oral histories are numbered in ascending order of diffi culty from 1 (easiest) to 5 (most diffi cult).* • Copies of the Oral History Jigsaw Questions

ACTIVITY: Reading Oral Histories of Partition • Distribute oral histories so that there are pairs (there may be multiple pairs) of students working on each oral history in preparation for the Oral History Jigsaw/ Partition “Speed Dating” activity

• Students read oral histories from people who experienced Partition. Students should be experts on their oral history perspective for next lesson.

• Hand out list of questions for the Oral History Jigsaw/ Partition “Speed Dating” activity. Students should be familiar with their narrative and should be able to imagine and to verbalize what their narrator might have thought or said in response to the most appropriate questions on the list of Oral History Jigsaw questions. Not every Oral History Jigsaw question will be answerable by every narrative. Students should prepare for the ones they can answer using their narrative.

NOTE: Th is activity should be paired with the Introduction to Oral History PowerPoint (included in Section One) and with the Oral History Jigsaw/ Partition “Speed Dating” Activity.

*Th e fi rst fi ve narratives (A1-5) are highly recommended for this exercise. eyTh represent a sampling of groups including: women, Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs, people who moved, and people who stayed in their homes. Five additional narratives are provided here, and may be used for enrichment or additional activities. Th e numbering of these fi ve should not be considered to be in ascending order of diffi culty.

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Oral History Reading A-1: A Sikh Man refl ects on the causes of Partition

Bir Bahadur Singh is a Sikh who was living outside of the city of Rawalpindi, an area that had erupted in violence several months before the Partition. In that violence, the Sikh minority was targeted for att ack by Muslims. Rawalpindi went to Pakistan in the Partition, but Bir Bahadur Singh speaks here fr om his new home in India. He refl ects on the Rawalpindi disturbances and why he thinks that Partition was a good thing.

My name is Bir Bahadur Singh. My village is Th oa Khalsa, [district] Rawalpindi, [county] Kahuta… In our area the people who used to live in towns, in the Kasbahs, there were small villages where they would go to set up shop, and they used to live there with their families. And I remember that from the time I was admitt ed into school, in the fi rst class, till class fi ve, I studied there… Th ere was a Musalmaan [Muslim] woman, Dadi Dadi [Grandmother] we used to call her. Her name was Ma Hussaini, and I would go and sit on one side in her lap, and her granddaughter would sit on the other side. I used to pull her [braid] and push her away and she would catch hold of my hair and push me away. I would say she is my dadi and she would say she is my dadi… Such good relations we had that if there was any function that we had, then we used to call Musalmaans to our homes, they would eat in our houses, but we would not eat in theirs and this is a bad thing, which I realize now. If they would come to our houses, we would have two utensils in one corner of our house, and we would tell them, pick these up and eat in them and they would then wash them and keep them aside and this was such a terrible thing. Th is was the reason Pakistan was created. If we went to their houses and took part in their weddings and ceremonies, they used to really respect and honor us. Th ey would give us uncooked food, ghee (butt er), att a (fl our), dal (lentils), whatever sabzi (vegetables) they had, chicken and even mutt on, all raw. [We cooked the food ourselves to make sure it was ritually pure]. And our dealings with them were so low that I am even ashamed to say it. A guest comes to our house, and we say to him bring those utensils and wash them, and if my mother or sister have to give him food, they will more or less throw the roti [fl atbread] from such a distance, fearing that they may touch the dish and become polluted… the Musalmaans dealt with us so well and our dealings with them were so low. If a Musalmaan was coming along the road, and we shook hands with him, and we had, say, a box of food or something in our hand, that would then become soiled and we would not eat it: if we are holding a dog in one hand and food in the other, there’s nothing wrong with that food. But if a Musalmaan would come and shake hands our dadis and mothers say son, don’t eat this food, it has become polluted. Such were the dealings: how can it be that there are two people living in the same village and one treats the other with such respect and the other doesn’t even give him the consideration due to a dog? How can this be? Th ey would call our mothers and sisters didi (sister), they would refer to us as brothers, sisters, fathers, and when we needed them they were always there to help, yet when they came to our houses, we treated them so badly. Th is is really terrible. And this is the reason Pakistan was made. Th ey thought, what is this, what has happened? How can this be? …Th e same people who used to look up to us, when they were asked about Partition and asked how the Sikhs dealt with them… if I cam telling you how badly we treated them, then when a Musalmaan will speak to a Musalmaan obviously he will exaggerate a bit and tell him

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about this in more detail. And of course there is no doubt in this that all the Musalmaans said that we dealt with them very badly and that they could not continue to live with us. No doubt. Why should they stay with us? Why? By separating they did a good thing. We were not capable of living with them. And all the punishment we have had at their hands, the beatings they have given us, that is the result of all this. Otherwise real brothers and sisters don’t kill and beat each other up. Aft er all, we also had some sin in us… to hate someone so much, to have so much hate inside you for someone… how can humanity forgive this?

Excerpt from Urvashi Butalia. The Other Side of Silence: Voices from the Partition of India (Durham: Duke University Press, 2000) 174- 194.

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Oral History Reading A-2: A Hindu widow remembers leaving her village, Gajranwali in West Punjab

Gyan Devi is a widow who has been living in a widow’s ashram for 32 years. It is very unusual for Hindu women whose husbands have died to marry again. Traditionally, many widows move into an ashram where they live with other widows. Some Partition widows still live in the ashram. Gyan Devi moved there a few years aft er Partition when she decided not to live with her brothers anymore. Five or six years aft er she migrated, without her husband, she heard that he had died. Her in-laws made no eff ort to contact her even though they were quite well off and could have taken care of her. In the ashram she made her living as a seamstress. Here, she remembers what her life was like at her parent’s house in West Punjab before Partition and what it was like to get ready to leave.

I remember when I was ten or eleven. My father had wholesale shops, four shops where my [aunt’s] sons worked. Th ey bought and sold gur (brown sugar) and sugar. It was a big market. Th ere were servants… We had 25 [units] of land. It was a lot of land. Muslim labour worked for us. We gave them ploughs and animals—there were no tractors then. Muslims did the work, my father supervised. Our lands were near the village Gajranwali [West Punjab]… Nearby were Jalapur Jatt an da, Jalalpur Bhatt ian da, Kollon, Rampur. Th ey were Muslim villages. Th ere were Hindus there also, but mainly Muslims. In our village how many were Hindus and how many Muslims, that I don’t know, but there was no diff erence between Hindus and Muslims. We had very good relations. At marriages we exchanged gift s—if there was a marriage in our family we distributed sweets, half a seer (unit of measure) for every member of the family. If there were ten members we sent fi veseer s. Muslims got sweets made by Hindu cooks and sent them to Hindu homes. Only well-off families did this, not everyone. Th e Bhatt is, Maulvis, Tarans—they had this exchange with us. When we left the village the Bhatt is really helped us. Bhatt is and we were like one family—our houses were also nearby. We visited them, they visited us, on all happy and sad occasions we went to each other. We suff ered only at the hands of the Malik Wassan (a local Muslim gang)—but actually they could never get to us. It was our own labour, people who worked on our land, they att acked us. Our own people did this. When the trouble started it was winter, the crop was ripe, ready to be harvested. We tried to cut it quietly at night. Th e house was full of paddy. Th ey att acked —I remember everything so clearly. I was sixteen or seventeen. When the trouble began my younger brother went to Amritsar [a city in East Punjab] to get trucks. Even the Bhatt is advised us to make preparations to leave. Th ey said, nothing can be guaranteed, we may not be able to help if the Malik Wassan come and att ack. All this started happening a month before we actually left . We escaped during that time. We had wanted ten trucks but only three came. How could we have brought all our things in three trucks? But almost the whole village, taking only very few belongings, left in three trucks. I was living with my parents—I had come from [my husband’s house in] Lyallpur [in West Punjab] to visit them. Th ose days girls would come for six months, eight months, to their parents… and I was still a child. I came here with my two brothers and their families. We took some jewellery, the rest we buried in our home thinking, not today, but tomorrow, in a few days we will defi nitely return. We never thought we would never go back. So we buried the gold under the grain. Twice my brother tried to return but he couldn’t because our own labour had become our enemy. Th ere were so many of them because we had so much land, not in our

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village, in four or fi ve villages. …We grew rice—we drew water from our wells for it with the animals, even camels. We had 15-20 buff aloes, so many buff aloes, so much milk—the nayans (women of the barber case, Muslim) used to come to churn milk. Heaps of butt er was made every morning—they took the butt ermilk, gave us the ghee (clarifi ed butt er) which they made from the butt er. Most of our servants were Muslims, they did the work. Churas (low castes) looked aft er the animals, nayans milked them, for the fi elds there were other labourers. Sharecroppers worked the land. For our own use, we churned the milk ourselves—my mother did that early in the morning. …We escaped with such diffi culty. What all we left behind—tins full of ghee, trunks full of blankets and quilts, so much. Our house in the village had four storeys. Many Hindu families had moved into our house for safety. We cooked for all of them… I took some rations, fi ve or six plates, katoris (bowls), tumblers, and some pots and pans. I locked the house myself and handed the keys to Maulvi Sahib (Muslim religious leader). He brought us to the trucks, saw to our safety. He took the keys from me and said, “Beta (daughter), don’t lose heart. Let the 15th [of August] pass—we ourselves will come to fetch you and bring you back. Don’t worry.” I was the last to leave, I was so scared. I locked the house from inside waiting for some of the men to come and take me. I put everything in order before leaving— I didn’t want my brother and sister-in-law to say I didn’t leave the house in order. I went to the roof of the house and looked out. I saw Gosainji passing and called out, “Brother, are you going to the trucks? Please send one of our men to fetch me.” I was so afraid the trucks would leave without me. People may not know I wasn’t there— there was so much confusion, so many people. It was not a small village, more like a town, and there were so many people leaving. I was full of fear. Aft er all I was still quite young and it was a frightening time even for older people. Our whole village moved together up to Amritsar. I had brought some with me, just a litt le, 1,000- 1,200 . My brother had come earlier, he had more. Whatever gold we were wearing was all we had brought. In Amritsar we lived for a month in tents provided by the government. Even aft er coming here we had hopes of returning…

Excerpts from Ritu Menon and Kamla Bhasin. Borders and Boundaries: ’s Partition (New Brunswick, New Jersey: Rutgers University Press, 1998) 136- 139.

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Oral History Reading A-3: An Indian Hindu refl ects on Lahore

Before Partition, Lahore was a very mixed and vibrant city. Th ough Muslims were in the majority, many shops and businesses were owned by Hindus. Both people who stayed and those who left lament the changes in the city aft er the Hindus left and the city was disturbed by extreme violence. Entire neighborhoods were burned to the ground and the police were suspected of taking part. Here, a Hindu who left refl ects on the diffi culty of that decision.

My father was, at the time of partition, the Managing Director of the National City Bank. He was also one of the founders of the National Bank of Lahore and was the fi rst one to introduce the teller system in Punjab. My father decided to stay back in Lahore aft er partition for several reasons. As he was the head of a small institution, he had to remain behind to carry on the bank’s business and to gradually wind it up. Since our house… was not declared evacuee property, he was able to stay there without any fear. Years later, he refused to migrate to India because he felt that he was too old to make a fresh start in a new place. Another important reason that kept him in Pakistan was his second wife, who was a Muslim. But in the end, despite all these reasons, he realized that the Lahore in which he had spent the best years of his life had changed. So he fi nally decided to move to India and rejoin his family in 1957… For a long time, the Punjabis who had lost their homes in the turmoil of ’47 could not forget the houses they had built and the towns and villages where their families had been living for generations. Despite all that had happened in the riots, there was a lurking desire in almost every heart to see, at least once again, the houses, bazaars (markets), schools and fi elds where they had spent a great part of their lives. Th ere were thousands who could not believe that they were leaving their homes for good; at their departure they had left their houses, utensils and catt le in the custody of neighbors of the other community. Th eir incredible simplicity made them think they would be returning soon. Aft er crossing to the other side, even while they struggled to get land and housing, faint hopes of going back one day to their ancestral homes lingered in their minds. Th e old ties were not yet severed, and in that period of fl ux people with whom they had left their possessions wrote lett ers telling them what was happening: “Your brown buff alo has given birth to a she- calf – there was a bumper crop this year – our youngest boy had got a job in town”, and so on. For a long time, people of this generation which had witnessed the drama of partition, could not believe that they had fi nally broken away from the land of their forefathers… When the riots subsided and life sett led down to a routine, many among the displaced ventured to visit the other side. Crossing the border was not such a diffi cult task as it is now. Th e visa system was introduced much later and gett ing a permit was relatively easy. It was sheer nostalgia for their old homes which made people want to travel to the other side. Among them there were also some who went to get back their valuables left in the custody of neighbors or friends. But most of them went just to see the houses they had built and the towns they had lived in. Going to a place deep in the countryside across the border meant a long journey and some danger for a person wishing to see his native place. Such villages, therefore, rarely had

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visitors of his kind. But in towns which are not far from the border [such as Lahore] there used to be streams of visitors who wanted only to see the sights and revive old memories. In the early years, it was not uncommon for people living in evacuee property to fi nd a stranger before their house peering awkwardly inside. In such situations, people were generally hospitable and sympathetic for they also had nursed a desire to see their old homes across the border. In some cases, this common desire made them friends. I know of one case where a person went to see his old house and developed a friendship with its new inhabitants. Mr. Chabildas (popularly known as Principle Chabildas), a revolutionary nationalist of Punjab, migrated from Lahore in 1947 and sett led down in Jallundhar [a city in East Punjab] in a house left by a Muslim family. One day, a couple of years later, he found a young man standing in a suspicious manner before the house. When he questioned him, he found that he had come from Pakistan to see his father’s house where the Hindu evacuee then resided. Th e young man was taken in with all the courtesy and hospitality befi tting the family traditions and shown around the house. Th e gentleman probably stayed with them for a couple of days, and soon aft erwards it was his father’s turn to help the family. Th e Hindu evacuee was involved in a case, and he was threatened with eviction from his house. When this was known on the other side, its “owner” sent an affi davit from Pakistan to prove a point in the dispute and thus helped him keep the house. Th e displaced in Punjab remembered their old homes not only for the properties left behind. Th ere were many who pined for their friends too. It may seem strange to an outsider that any friendship [between Hindus and Muslims] survived the carnage through which the country had passed. But the riots were the doings of a handful. Th e average man was merely swayed by the wind which was blowing. When bloodshed ended, most people regrett ed what had happened. At many places the common folk were no more than helpless spectators of the events. For those who valued human relationships, it was really painful to see their friends and neighbors depart… Aft er partition, there were innumerable people in Punjab who longed to meet their friends, to exchange their favorite swear- words with them, and to revive the gaiety of bygone days. But the question was where to meet. At a time when the riots had just subsided, the Hindus and Sikhs considered it hazardous to travel in West Punjab. Th e Muslims, too, thought that a journey in East Punjab was a dangerous proposition. Interestingly enough, there were many who thought that a meeting at the border was the only alternative. Th e authorities of India and Pakistan were also helpful and allowed people to meet in a small stretch which they called “no man’s land”. In those days, thousands fl ocked to the border at to learn how former friends were faring and to discuss their problems with each other.

Excerpted from: Som Anand, Lahore: Portrait of a Lost City, (lahore: Vanguard Books Pvt. Ltd., 1998), foreward x-xi, 96-100. (Permission pending.)

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Oral History Reading A-4: A Muslim soldier talks about gett ing his family out of India

Wajahat Husain grew up an Indian Muslim. Aft er college he joined the military. During Partition he was guarding the border between India and Pakistan in Punjab. Aft er he completed his tour protecting the new border and managing violence in border towns and villages with the Punjab Boundary Force, he went to join his new regiment in the . At lunch one day, he bumped into a British offi cer he had known at the Indian Military Academy in Dehra Dun, now in India. He tells here how Jim Wilson helped him to get his family out of India and over to Pakistan.

Jim Wilson asked me, “Look, what about your family?” I said, “Th ey are in Aligarh [a city in Northern India]. I have no idea, I’ve been out of touch.” Incidentally, I heard later that my father, having lost communications with me because things were so bad, made lots of inquiries and couldn’t fi nd where I was and what was happening. He knew I was with the Boundary Force but that’s all he knew. I had stopped by Aligarh on my way to Ahmednagar [a city in Central India] during my stay with the Boundary Force. We had run short of ammunition. I had to rush to Ahmednagar so I stopped in Aligarh for the night and told them what was happening. [But that was in August, now it was October.] So Jim Wilson said “[Even though you want to join the Pakistan Army, you have been off ered a post teaching at the Indian Military Academy in Dehra Dun, India.] You have been posted [there], so what I can do is, on that basis, I am also going back to Dehra Dun, [because] I have been posted in Pakistan, taking over as personal secretary to the new British Commander- in-Chief [of the Pakistan Army] General Gracey. I will give you transport and I will give you escort on the basis of you being posted at the IMA Dehra Dun. Th en there are a couple of families we would like you to collect from Dun school.” Th ere is a famous school in Dehra Dun, old Pakistani families. “Take them, go to Aligarh and collect your family and then go to Lahore and send the transport back.” So I said, “Th at’s grand.” So I told my Commanding Offi cer and he said, “No problem. I’ll tell your new CO (Commanding Offi cer) that you’ve gone to collect your family, so go with Jim.” I fl ew with him to Delhi. We stopped for a night and stayed in the Commander-in-Chief’s place, Field Marshal Auchinleck, and the next morning we drove to Dehra Dun. So I was back in Dehra Dun, where I had just graduated from the Indian Military Academy less than a year before. Everyone was surprised! Th ey were doing the division of the assets. Th ey were counting how many bicycles would go to Pakistan, and how many this and how many that. I sort of cosmetically took part in it for a couple of days until Major Wilson got me a British escort and an escort of three or four persons and what we call a 1500 weight truck: a two and a half or three ton truck, a big truck. And from that I went to another family in Dun School and got them and then moved on to Aligarh. I moved [the people] in the truck and then went on to Aligarh. I got there in the aft ernoon and I was supposed to leave the next day, but late in the night the local the Deputy Commissioner came to know [that I was there]. He came into the house early in the morning and wanted to check my papers [to fi nd out] who I was, what I was doing and so on and so forth. So I realized that before the game was up and I had bett er leave quickly. My mother, God bless her, was very upset because there was so much stuff and she didn’t know what to take and what not to take. I said, “I’m very sorry, you can only take a couple of suitcases each of the most

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essential things otherwise everything will have to be left .” She was very brave and so was my father. And they, in a few hours time, organized everything. Th en there was the problem of the servants. We had so many servants and everybody wanted to come but there was no place. I already had one family with me. Anyway, so instead of leaving the next day, mid-day or so, we decided to leave at three or four in the morning which further shortened the arrangements about what one could take. Th e children, Soraiya, Shehzad and Fehzad they were very small they were all shouting and crying because they wanted to take their things. Th ey couldn’t and so on. Th ey were all saying, “Our brother has gone mad! He has demanded to take us and we can’t take our things!” Anyway, the next morning, four o’clock or so, while it was still dark, we left . Quietly. By the time it was eight o’clock or nine o’clock we had reached Delhi and cleared that area. My older brother Intesar had gone ahead to Lahore because he worked for the railways. I instructed him to look ‘round and fi nd [a house], and as I had been bringing convoys I knew what the situation was [and that it would be diffi cult to fi nd a house]. So I said, “Get hold of an empty bungalow.” And by that time, it was fairly late. Most of the bungalows and property had already been occupied either by the locals or by the refugees. Anyway so he managed to get hold of this house at 47 Jail Road where a Chief Justice [had been] living. Because it was at the back of a long driveway the house was not occupied by anybody. Th ey couldn’t spot it. But it had been very badly looted, there was nothing in it. But it was shelter. So when we found that he had found this house, and he had been living quite close by in another house, then we moved the family there. Th en I went to the rehabilitation people and go this house allott ed to the family.

Excerpt from Wajahat Husain, personal interview with Amber Abbas June 14, 2005. Not to be cited without author’s permission.

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Oral History Reading A-5: An Indian Muslim refl ects on the Hindu-Muslim tension

Nasim Ansari is a graduate of the Aligarh Muslim University in Aligarh India, who went on to become a doctor. In 1947, he was one of the Muslims who chose to stay in India, rather than to migrate to Pakistan. He remembers the confl icts between the mostly Hindu Indian National Congress and the Muslim League. Th ey could have tried harder, he thinks, to resolve their problems and avoided Partition altogether.

In the Aligarh Muslim University of 1945 all the complexities and rapidly changing qualities of our national life were, in a manner of speaking, concentrated... Th e number of pupils studying in the university was perhaps eight thousand, including both boys and girls. Amongst them were the representatives of every province in India and followers of every party. From a class point of view there was full refl ection of our society. Th ere were students from the families of landlords, capitalists, workers, politicians, religious scholars, professionals, doctors, engineers, lawyers, army offi cers and teachers. In fact, people from every kind of family were here. Whether the diff erences between them were based upon class or upon theories, they were not concealed in any way. [Yet, there was mutual tolerance.]… I became convinced that Hindus and Muslims must sett le the problems of India jointly. Without establishing unity and friendship between the two communities no problem could be solved. Alas! Neither the Congress nor the Muslim League accepted this. Congress was not prepared to recognize the Muslim League as an equal. [Congress] was a national party in which all kinds of inhabitants of the country were included, and it claimed that the Muslim League was one party out of a number of Muslim parties. Th e Muslim League, on the other hand, insisted that it should be treated as an equal because it was the representative party of the Muslims. Th is clash between the two led to the ruination of hundreds of thousands of Indians. Families were made desolate, village aft er village was burnt to the ground. But to this day neither of them is willing to admit their mistake. You will, no doubt, ask where the Muslim League was at fault in all this. My answer is that the Muslim League never att empted to explain its stand to the Hindus. All it was concerned with was building a front against the Congress and holding itself aloof from every movement in which it would have to work alongside the Hindus. If instead of adopting this hostile policy, it had att empted to bring about understanding then all this bitt erness perhaps would not have arisen. It is merely an idea. Aft er all, the Congress had tried to establish direct contact with the Muslim masses but it did not achieve any success in this. Th e weakness of the Muslim League was probably a manifestation of the intellectual backwardness of the Muslims. At that time there were very few Muslims who had the ability to infl uence Hindu intellectuals and those who did, were for the most part, outside the Muslim League. If only the Muslim League had made an att empt to take along with it these able and highly educated Muslims! But who would make this eff ort? In the leadership of the Muslim League there were very few intellectuals. Mr. Jinnah himself was a very good lawyer and a very astute politician, but I have never seen any speech of his in which any philosophical, literary, or economic problem has been raised. At least in Aligarh, the Muslim League workers adopted, to a very great extent, an anti-intellectual stance and they regarded every intellectual with suspicion…

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Anyway, let us leave this discussion for another time. For the moment let us return to the Aligarh of 1945-1947… All that I can see is the radiance of political fervour of those days. Everybody is eagerly awaiting the creation of Pakistan but nobody is clear in his mind as to what form this will take. Th e best of it was that nobody even considered it necessary to think about this. [At meetings of the conservative Muslim party] the whole system of Islamic thought used to be discussed but there was no mention of the . At that time this seemed to me a very odd thing. Now I think that the reason probably was that the leader of the Pakistan movement, Mr. Jinnah was completely irreligious and all of his associates except [a few] were pure politicians. It is obvious that the followers of the Jamaat-e-Islami [a conservative Muslim faith group] found nothing to att ract them to people of this kind. By April 1947 when I had taken my intermediate examination and said farewell to Aligarh, the whole country was already in fl ames.

Excerpts from Nasim Ansari. Choosing To Stay: Memoirs of and Indian Muslim Translated by Ralph Russell (New Delhi: City Press, 1999) pp. 41-62.

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Oral History Reading B-1: A Hindu Woman Leaves Pakistan with her children

Durga Rani retired as a senior offi cer in the social welfare department of Haryana, near Delhi, aft er serving for forty years. It is very unusual for Hindu women whose husbands have died to marry again. Traditionally, many widows move into an ashram where they live with other widows. Some Partition widows still live in the ashram. Durga Rani was widowed young but spent her life caring for others in need including her in-laws and her own children. One of her daughters is now a medical doctor, and the other is a homemaker. Durga Rani’s father was a government offi cial and that helped them to get out of Pakistan safely. Here she remembers the diffi cult train journey to Jullundur with her children and her parents, but without her husband.

Ours was one of the fi rst trains out of Pakistan. As soon as we reached Jullundar [a city in East Punjab], my father got a job in the social welfare department. I was living with him... My own house was in [a city in West Punjab, south of Lahore], I mean my husband’s house. I was not well so my father brought me to his house. Aft er that the fi ghting started—I went to him in April, the troubles began in August. I had three litt le girls, I must have been 20 or 21 years old at the time. All the trains were supposed to have an armed escort of [neutral Nepali troops], but oft en the Muslims would disguise themselves as Gurkhas. Th ey would climb onto the trains and loot everyone. We had hidden some gold in my litt le daughter’s underwear in a pocket— that was all that we could save, the rest was taken away, my mother’s, my own… When [the train] reached Lahore, we were searched. Even Muslim women in disguise looted us, whenever they got a chance, they took it. Even though the fi rst train was supposed to be the safest. We waited there for 45 minutes—other trains had also been stopped. Every time the train stopped, we were terrifi ed. Th ere was no police. It took us fi ve or six days to reach Jullundar [a trip that normally would have only taken 1 day]. On the way we could not even drink water. If we got out at the station we were afraid we might be killed. Sometimes we had roasted gram (lentils) to eat, sometimes roti-dal (lentil soup and bread). My in-laws went to [a district near New Delhi], I remained with my parents. Th ere were seven of us—my younger brother, parents, my three daughters and myself. My eldest daughter got cholera as soon as we reached—she was just four years old. We went straight to the camp. We had just one glass between us, but we got our rations at the camp. Th e camp was at the DAV College—they closed the college. Tents were put up, they made temporary arrangements for water, but there was a cholera epidemic very soon. My daughter died of it. Aft er we cremated her, we found the younger one had it, too. But by then we heard of the Cholera Hospital in Jullundar and took her there—she was there for 25 days. My parents ate nothing—they said they would survive on cardamom water. I was with my younger daughter and an eight- year- old brother—if anything had happened to my parents, I wouldn’t have known what to do. My father made an announcement on the radio that those people who were still in Pakistan were surviving on neem and shisham leaves, and must be rescued. It was November when my husband fi nally came to India. He had contracted typhoid on the way. Till then he was in a Hindu camp in Multan, [district] . Th ere was such a crowd there, he had to wait his turn. We had a dry fruit shop in Multan… My husband used to sit in the shop. He was 24

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when he died. When fi ghting broke out in March [1947] we had to leave town—our Muslim neighbors threw burqas (veils) on us and escorted us back to our village on tongas (horse-carts). When rioting began in Lahore, Multan followed, and we were under curfew. We couldn’t come out of our houses—that’s when we escaped to the village… so that we could all be together. It was safe there. In Multan, Hindus were in a minority and in greater danger. By August, it too had erupted. My husband went to the camp at Khanewal in September, stayed there for three months and came to Jullundar in November with his family. He knew we were there because my father had sent messages, announced it on stations—Amritsar, Atari [cities in East Punjab]—along the way. My husband was on the train to Karnal but he got off at Jullundar, his parents carried on to Karnal. My husband knew ten trains had reached Amritsar, ten had reached Jullundar, and ten would go to Karnal. By then we had left the camp but someone informed my father that my husband was in Jullundar. We started looking for him and fi nally found him in a doctor’s house. But he was already too ill. He had hidden in some sugarcane fi elds on the way. I didn’t even get a chance to ask him how those three months had passed—he died as soon as he reached, on November 17. I couldn’t even speak to him. He said to my father, “I took her from your house, now I am leaving her in your house.” Th ese were his last words. By then, my father had been allott ed a small house in Basti Godam [a neighborhood in Jullundar]— it had been abandoned by a Muslim family. Aft er my husband died I realized that I had to stand on my own two feet now. I said to my father, I will have to be trained for some work. I will live with my in-laws because they have lost their only son, but fi rst I must be educated. Th en my father wrote to Rajkumari Amrit Kaur and to Rameshwari Nehru—he was also doing rehabilitation work—asking if they could help. Th ey said, send her to Delhi, and I left Jullundar on January 1, 1948. I brought my youngest daughter with me and left the other with my mother. …I cried of course, leaving my parents, but what else could I have done? Th ere were other widows at Western Court, we oft en cried together… we would stay awake all night sharing our experiences, what had happened to us. Th ere were about 250 of us, refugees only, training at Western Court… we got a stipend of Rs. 45 per month. We were two in a room. Slowly we became friends, we would go out in the evenings, to , to the Kasturba Ashram… But it was only aft er I started working that I began to feel less sad. Before that I used to wonder how I would cope, whether I could manage, how I would ever forget…

Excerpts from Ritu Menon and Kamla Bhasin. Borders and Boundaries: Women in India’s Partition (New Brunswick, New Jersey: Rutgers University Press, 1998) 141- 144.

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Oral History Reading B-2: A Hindu woman refl ects on her experience of Partition

During the disruption of Partition many women were lost or abducted. Some were forcibly converted and made to marry. Many were the victims of sexual violence. Th ese women sometimes made it into refugee camps but were oft en kept by their abductors. In the months and years aft er Partition, both India and Pakistan made it a priority to “recover” these abducted women even though sometimes their families would not take them back. Damyanti Sahgal was a worker in Indian refugee camps for women and was responsible for bring many abducted Hindu women back fr om Pakistan. Here she remembers her own experience of Partition.

At the time of partition I was in my village, Kotra, just thirty miles from Lahore, near station on the road to Multan [in West Punjab]. Everything we owned was there. We had a factory. Because I didn’t get married, I stayed with my father. I had no mother. I was my father’s companion, whatever happened… my father thought that because he had all his property there, his workers would help him out of whatever trouble there was. So much faith… my uncle P.N. Th apar was a commissioner of at that time. He sent a man to say that in Jandiala [a city in East Punjab] the Sikhs had held a conference, they’d met in a gurudwara (Sikh Temple) and taken oaths that they would avenge [the] Rawalpindi [violence] on the Musalmans (Muslims), and had sworn that on such and such day— I don’t remember the day— they would begin the wholesale slaughter of Musalmans. So my uncle Th apar sent this message that you should go away from here because I have a confi dential report that in Jandiala village, near Amritsar, Sikhs have met in the gurudwara and have taken oaths that on such and such day we will put an end to Muslamaans. Th is will have repercussions. Musalmaans will kill Hindus. Th ey said, whatever has happened with our women in [Rawalpindi], we will not let that go unavenged. My father said, well, this Th apar is a coward… how can we leave everything and just go? I have so many men, they will protect me. Th ere’ll be some noise for a few days and then everything will come back to normal. So he refused to go. Th en a second message came… my uncle said your father is stubborn, so you should go. At the most he will be killed, but you, you will be gutt ed… and this is very diffi cult for us to tolerate. You will be gutt ed… so you should leave. Father didn’t agree… the workers in his factory were mixed: Jats (agricultural caste), Hindus, but on the whole it was a Muslim village so most of the workers were Musalmaans… at that time they were respectful and humble. Th ey seemed safe… When I tried to persuade my father he said, well, if you feel scared you go. I said but bauji (father), he said, no bibi (my dear), if you feel scared you go. But where do I go? Th en I came to Lahore. I remember asking what I should do, where I should go, my father was refusing to go… Partition had started. I went alone, and there was rioting in Amritsar… I went alone. We used to have a small boy with us, I don’t remember what his name was, Dipu or Tipu, a small boy. Bauji said you take this servant with you and money… whatever, some two or three hundred [rupees], whatever was in the house he handed to me. I don’t exactly remember. And he said once you get there, in Kulu [a Himalayan town in India], Dr. Devi Chand told me that they have a house there and that I should go there. You’ll be safe there and when all the disturbances fi nish you can come back… So I took the servant and some rupees, some two or three hundred, I don’t know how much, perhaps it was only a hundred. When we came close to Amritsar, we found

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that they had started stopping trains, killing people in them, but we were lucky. Everyone said put your windows up, they are cutt ing down people. Train, train. Everyone was full of fear… they kept saying put your windows up, put your windows up, Amritsar is coming and they’re cutt ing people down there. We put our windows up… God knows what they were doing outside, we were too frightened even to look, we kept praying our train would not stop at the station. And from there our train passed straight through… we had heard that killing and looting had begun there, that the Musalmaans had also risen up in arms, so also the Sikhs. Anyway, we went from there and I went straight to Kulu, and stayed there some time in Devi Chand Vohra’s house. Th e small boy, the servant, was also with me. Aft er this I left the house and went to… [somewhere else] and to Manali [a Himalayan town in India], I roamed about a lot in this whole area, I had to stay in rest houses. In rest houses they have some specifi c days— they let you stay for eight to ten days. On arrival when I got there, I used to sign, the chaprasi (assistant) would bring the book, the visitor’s book, and then they would come and say now your time is up and you must leave, and we had to pay the rest house, aft er that. …[In one rest house] an old chaprasi (assistant) came, the chowkidar (guard), he said, “I’ll tell you a story. Th e Englishman here, the deputy commissioner”— I don’t remember his name— “he stayed in this rest house. I used to be his chaprasi. He came in one night and said to me, ‘Chaprasi, take off my shoes… I have shoes on my feet, take them off .’ And today [the British are gone!]… I’ll tell you a story… note it down with pen and paper… [he said,] ‘You know your baba Gandhi, he’s given [British] us a lot of trouble, a lot of trouble. Th at old man, he doesn’t even stop for breath, he keeps telling us get out, get out. Aft er all, where will we go? Here we are very happy Baba, we’ll leave because we have to, we’ll leave, but not before we have taught him a lesson. We’ll leave such a state of aff airs that brother will fi ght brother, sister will fi ght sister, there will be killing and arson and rape, we’ll leave such a state of aff airs behind that he will not be able to control it, and he will raise his hands and plead with god to send us back… send them back. And then what will happen… his own men, his own people will hurl abuses at him, they will give him trouble, they will say look at this mess you have got us into.’ And he pulled out a paper and said, ‘See, take it down, see today’s date. I’m telling you we will go, we’re not likely to stay now, but we’ll teach him a lesson before going. Th is will happen, that will happen and everyone will say, Oh god, send them back…’”

Excerpt from Urvashi Butalia. The Other Side of Silence: Voices from the Partition of India (Durham: Duke University Press, 2000) 91-95.

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Oral History Reading B-3: A Muslim army offi cer talks about the Punjab Boundary Force

Lieutenant Wajahat Husain was a squadron commander in the Punjab Boundary Force, mobilized by the Supreme Commander Field Marshal Auchinleck to provide security along the newly-drawn border in the Punjab. Th ey spent much of their time trying to quell rioting and violence in cities in East Punjab. Here he tells of what it was like traveling through the Punjab on his way to join the PBF. He didn’t know anything about what was happening there until he saw it with his own eyes.

I moved from Ahmednagar [a city in Central India] with my squadron as reinforcement for the Punjab Boundary Force under orders from the Supreme Commander Field Marshal Auchinleck. Th e situation in East Punjab along the proposed border between Pakistan and India had deteriorated and disturbances had broken out all over East Punjab and portions of West Punjab. We left Ahmednagar a few days aft er celebrating and soon aft er crossing central India, just as we were reaching Delhi, we experienced great trouble. Firstly, when we stopped at Delhi Railway Station it was discovered that there was no guard or railway engine that was prepared to proceed to Pakistan. Th e Railway Transport Authority, a military organization, with great diffi culty, managed to get a guard and an engine driver and that delayed our train by about eight or ten hours and we started from Delhi. Aft er leaving Delhi we were constantly, at every stage, constantly harassed at every railway station where we stopped just for taking water and other logistic support. When we arrived at Beas [a town in East Punjab] I saw on both sides of the railway station, especially on the platform and the bridge over it, a big concentration of armed Sikhs, armed to the teeth! [Th ey were] just waiting for this train. When this train arrived they looked very threatening. I was already prepared, as I had been warned, so I had guards posted on the platform, and [the Sikhs] were a litt le bit intrigued that this was a military train, not a passenger train-- as they were expecting-- or a refugee train. I told the engine driver to quickly get water and push off . As we were gett ing water there was a very ominous silence and they looked very threatening preparing to att ack the train. I started taking names of my men and shouting them like, “Om Lal Biradi, so-and-so Biradi, so-and-so Hurriya” from that they got the impression that these were not Muslims. I also gave them warning that this was not a refugee train, this was a military train and if anything is done to this train we will take immediate action and that seemed to have worked. As soon as we fi nished taking the water then the train started. In the end, we had no problem, and these chaps kept standing there. As we moved along Beas we could see on both sides of the railway line scatt ered clothing, baggage, things like that, obviously from the trains of Muslim refugees proceeding to Pakistan that had been att acked earlier. And this state of aff airs continued. Th en we got to another railway station at Ambala [in East Punjab] and it was the same situation. On either side there were these people concentrated, very heavily armed, and waiting to att ack the train. Th ere also we went through the same operation: initially warning them, posting sentries from front to rear— from the engine driver on either side of the railway line— and at the same time warning them, and so that’s how it continued. My problem was I only had about 25-30 men who were armed. Anyway, we somehow managed all this till we got to Amritsar [a city in East Punjab]. Just before gett ing to Amritsar there was a terrible sight. Th e train was moving slowly into the suburbs of Amritsar and on

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either side solidly at about a thousand to two thousand yards on either side was a solid mass of humanity. Muslim refugees: men, women and children with all their baggage and everything waiting for the train. Th ere were so many and so tightly crowded that it was diffi cult for the train to move along the railway line. We got to Amritsar Railway Station main platform and as we arrived I was sitt ing on top of the tank. As we stopped the young captain who was the RTO: Railway Transportation Offi cer, rushed to me and he said, “I will try to get your train to Lahore as soon as possible, but I don’t have an engine and this driver and the guard have to be taken off . I’ll try to fi nd some one to take this train but it’s going to be very diffi cult. In the meantime, your men can relax.” But he also warned me, “Please be careful, there is a machine gun installed in the roof by these people and the train that went before you was att acked and a lot of people on the platform have been killed.” As I was talking to him a couple of Sikhs come over and there was a family waiting on the platform and in no time they were all killed. And this process was going on on the platform and there was nothing much we could do. Aft er a couple of hours they managed to get an Anglo- Indian [Ethnically Half British- Half Indian] driver and guard. Th ese two poor people had been taking trains to and from Pakistan for the last six or seven days and they were the only people available who could do that… Th e train moved aft er about six or seven hours stay at Amritsar and arrived late at night in Lahore. From the suburbs of Lahore onwards… we saw the same phenomenon we had seen at Amritsar with the refugees on either side. [Th ey were] piled up waiting for the train. Th is time they were Sikhs and Hindus waiting to go to India. I was a litt le bit worried because there was 50,000 gallons of petrol in four wagons with our tank train. Th at petrol had been there now for 2-3 weeks since we took the train and it was leaking. I was thinking that with all these people sitt ing on either side if somebody throws even a matchstick or cigarett e it will all blow up. Anyway, the people from the local division were there to receive me and we were told to unload our train. Again we had the problem that there was no engine available. It took them three to four hours to fi nd an engine to do the shunting and we were taken to the siding and from the siding we unloaded the tanks. In the meantime I climbed on the bridge (which is next to the house I live in now) and saw that Lahore was burning and Lahore was in a terrible state.

Excerpt from Wajahat Husain, personal interview with Amber Abbas June 14, 2005. Not to be cited without author’s permission.

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Oral History Reading B-4: A Muslim in Pakistan remembers his experience in Ferozepur, East Punjab

Dr. Sarfaraz Hussein Mirza was born in East Punjab. He migrated with his family during the tumultuous days of Partition in August 1947. He lived for some time in a refugee camp in Lahore, Pakistan. His father was employed by the police in India under the British, and then in Pakistan. Today Dr. Mirza is a professor of Pakistan History. He tells here of his memories of the Partition days and the founder of Pakistan Quaid-e-Azam Mohammed Ali Jinnah.

I was born in Ferozepur, a district in East Punjab now in India. My parents belonged to this part of Pakistan but at that time my father was a senior police offi cer working in Ferozepur district between [another city in East Punjab] and Ferozepur where he spent about thirty or forty years. I was born over there in 1942. [We lived in] a colony of police offi cers, in the police lines. We children, everybody, we used to stay with him. Th at house was just at the end of the colony as it is usual with the senior offi cers having a distance from the junior staff . It was like that. It was very big, very big. It was a four-walled [colony] with big bungalows with big parks, grounds; we used to go over there when we were very young kids. Some of the servants of the police sepoys or orderlies they used to take us to the park for strolling in the evening. We used to have a tonga (horse drawn cart), at that time there was not much practice [of using] cars. Th e man having a tonga was considered a happier man. My father had a tonga and in that tonga we used to go to the kindergarten schools which you call today, English speaking. Th ose schools were considered the best schools, as compared to others. Th is much I know, that when I was young, studying in a Hindu or Sikh school, that Hindus and Sikhs used to be very vulgar and brutes with us! Th e teachers used to be Sikhs, the teachers used to be Hindus and they would treat the Muslim students [badly], they used to thrash them like anything. I had a very bad experience during that time. When the partition was announced, at that time we were in Jalandhar. In Jalandhar, we studied from Jalandhar, at that time my father was posted in Jalandhar. People thought, as the books also tell us, that the Ferozepur area was considered to be included in Pakistan area. But it didn’t happen. We were in Jalandhar, somebody told my father, “Why don’t you shift to Ferozepur?” In Ferozepur I had my grandmother and my grandfather… with maternal uncles all of them were living in one big house. So we shift ed to Ferozepur. But when we shift ed to Ferozepur, say in August, the things changed absolutely. Suddenly it was announced that these areas were no more in Pakistan, these are included in India so there was a hew and cry and people started running from this area. I was too young, and I was strolling on the road-- I don’t know where I was, playing in the [cricket] ground or somewhere— meanwhile when I came back I saw that the house was absolutely empty! Everything has been taken away. I saw the Sikhs cutt ing the throat of the young Muslim children on the road! When I was coming back to my house I saw with my own eyes. Th ey were just, you know, they would cut the head of a child and throw it away and they would just put their sword like that, and do like that (he makes the motions of impaling the head on the end of the sword and waving it around). Th is was the very horrible thing that I saw. Since I was too young, I could not actually visualize what was happening. You can feel fear, you can feel happiness only at that time when you have a sense of that. I didn’t have a sense of what is going on. But I saw this.

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It is miraculous and fortunate that they didn’t touch me, and I went to my house and our Sikh servant told me that everyone has gone away. I came back to the road. My elder brother was in the Army and he was a very good hockey player. He was just searching me out. He escorted everyone from that bungalow and took everybody to the army camp. He was working in the army. Th ere was a camp of the Muslim families in the army area. He searched me out and took me to the remaining family members. Everybody was weeping like anything, they thought that I was fi nished. eyTh were weeping and they were just beating me also! [Th ey were asking], “Where were you when we started shift ing from there?” Th is is what I [remember]. Th en, from Ferozepur, I heard the fi ring, daily, at night, in the morning. We came to the refugee camp at the River Sutlej, it was near Ferozepur. It was a very huge camp of the Muslims who were coming to Pakistan. Snakes were there, dead bodies of human beings, dead bodies of catt le. I cannot explain what I saw at that time. I cannot tell you exactly what the date was, but it must have been aft er 14 August. It cannot be before 14th. In trucks we came to Lahore. We stayed in the Refugee Camp which is near . [It was in the] Lower Cantonment, now there is a booster of the television station there and I still go to those barracks in which we used to stay. I still go and drink water from the same tap from where we used to drink water at that time. We had no meals, no water, no utensils, no clothes to wear. We were absolutely sitt ing in the open ground. Th ere were old barracks of the army offi cers, so we used to stay over there. I still go. On 14th August I host the fl ag of Pakistan over there. Th at is my Pakistan. I am very touchy about that. Very touchy about that place and I still remember the very horrible days that I spent over there. I go on 14th and I take my family over there, and everybody laughs, my daughter and such. Th ey cannot understand, actually. Th ey cannot visualize [it]; they cannotunderstand what happened. Th ey can simply hear me, they can simply see what I am doing. [I am] climbing the roof and just hoisting the Pakistan fl ag and then I raise the slogan “!” (Long Live Pakistan!) over there. Th is is my Pakistan.

Excerpt from Sarafaraz Mirza, personal interview with Amber Abbas July 21, 2006. Not to be cited without author’s permission.

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Oral History Reading B-5: A Muslim army offi cer describes a train massacre

Wajahat Husain had worked to organize and evacuate the Muslims of Kapurthala to Pakistan while he was a part of the Punjab Boundary force. He had fought the local state authorities who were moving slowly to take care of this community. Aft er evacuating them to a safe area and protecting them, he arranged for them to be evacuated by train. He was unable to accompany the train, however, and found out in the evening that it had been att acked before reaching the border. He tells here how he dealt with what he saw.

Along the border there was a place where there was a bit of a distance between railway line and road. And that’s where this train was att acked, late in the evening by the local villagers. I think that the guards that were provided by the state were also involved in it. By the time I got there, it was very quick and they had fl ooded the area to prevent our gett ing there. I found that the railway line was broken and the train was lying on its side, some of the bogeys were on their side. It was a terrible sight. Dead bodies all over. And by the time we got there it was late in the evening. Anyway, not much I could do and I saw the dead bodies lying all over. I informed the Brigade Headquarters what the position was and asked for reinforcement because I didn’t have enough men. And they said, “Sorry, nothing we can do. Wait till the morning.” My problem was night. Anyway, next to it, only about four or fi ve hundred yards was a Sikh village and there were cries all round that they were going to att ack, going to att ack. Luckily, where I stopped my command vehicle there was the body of a very fi ne young Sikh lying there who had been hit from the train while he was trying to get on top of the goods wagon. I think somebody hit him and he was killed. I discovered that he was the son of the local headman and I got a message saying that they wanted to come and collect his body. So I sent a message that “I will not give you this body. In the morning, I will give you the body on the condition that no att ack takes place. Otherwise I’ll make sure that his body is burned before you get here.” I made arrangements for that. It was just a threat, and somehow it worked. Th ey did not att ack that night. In the morning, and just aft er this there were ghastly sights of all these Muslim women, old men, all these dead bodies lying all over and I especially recall a woman, an old woman with her legs cut off , hands cut off , hopping from body to body trying to locate her relations. And she couldn’t fi nd anybody. [It was] a terrible state and we couldn’t do anything. eTh next morning I was expecting another att ack from outside so I organized things and I told people in the train to get out, clean themselves, collect their dead bodies and so on and so forth. But they were in such a state nobody would come out. With great diffi culty a couple of old men came out and told us what had happened. Th en I went on, I took my jeep and went towards the railway engine which was lying on its side and the few bogeys, the few wagons att ached to it were also lying on their side. Going on the other side what I saw was a lot of ladies shoes. Hundreds of ladies shoes! Th ey were all pointing in one direction which was [towards] a sort of semi-desert area with sort of bushes indicating that this train was att acked, and of course the bogeys were on their side and these women ran to this side without their shoes. So I got inside my tank and we started moving. Aft er going hardly a few thousand yards there were a lot of bushes and what do I see? Hundreds of these women. Th ey had been raped, mutilated. [Th ere were in] a terrible state. Some had their babies crawling all over. It was a terrible sight. And most of them were dead and some were

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dying. I felt so helpless. It was [seeing] this orgy. How could human beings do such things? I immediately tried to give fi rst aid to these women and some water from our own tanks. We were carrying very litt le in our fi rst aid kit. We came back and I told these people, “Look, there are your women and that. Please come over and let us go and whatever people you can recognize, let’s bring them back to the train.” With great diffi culty, only about half a dozen people came. Th e rest would not come. Th ey were afraid. Of course! Most of them had been att acked in the night and were in a terrible state and they didn’t want to see what had happened. Anyway. Th ere was one old man, I remember the poor chap, I took him in my jeep to this place. He got out and was going from one dead body to the other dead body and all over, running madly— wild— shouting, crying, calling names. Th en he came back and said, “Sir, I’m sorry I cannot fi nd any members of my family. Seventeen members of my family are missing.” So I said, “Well, nothing we could do.” So I brought him back. As we were doing that in the far distance we saw a lot of dust. Th rough my binoculars I saw a mounted sort of , with fully armed Sikh bands coming over to att ack whatever was left of this train. By that time we were in good shape and I got my tanks across the railway line and spread them out and then we charged and we took them on. Th ere was fi ring-- literally like a batt le-- with tank fi re. I saw quite a few of them coming down from their horses, fl ying in the air and coming down. When they saw this, they turned about and ran away. By about mid-day we got rid of these people, and came back. By this time we had the people under control and I got some reinforcements. arrived from Jalandhar [a city in East Punjab]. I handed over the train and went back to Jalandhar. Th at was my worst experience. And that train, unfortunately, it was only a distance of fi eenft to twenty miles, was att acked again and again on its way to Jalandhar. Very litt le was left of it, of the inmates. So these were the general conditions.

Every third or fourth day I used to get back to my room and my bearer was with me and I used to just come back and have a bath, get something to eat. Th at was the only square meal I used to get every third or fourth day, and a clean uniform and just lie down on the bed: tired, exhausted. All the day’s events and these dead bodies going through my mind and I was having a lot of diffi culty going to sleep. One used to be so tired and exhausted. Th e next morning: get up, go to the squadron offi ce and get the tanks refueled, collect ammunition, give the reports of what happened the last three or four days, get fresh orders and so on, and then start all over again. It used to go on for days and days.

Excerpt from Wajahat Husain, personal interview with Amber Abbas June 14, 2005. Not to be cited without author’s permission.

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Student Activity: Oral History Jigsaw or Partition “Speed Dating”

TIME NEEDED: 20-25 minutes

OBJECTIVE: Students will create a “character persona” of their oral history narrator. Th ey will participate in a Jigsaw or “Speed Dating” activity by sharing answers to a series of questions with their peers, from the perspective of their narrator.

SUPPLIES FOR THIS ACTIVITY: • Overhead/LCD projection/fl ip chart of Oral History Jigsaw Questions • Extra copies of the Oral History Jigsaw Questions for students • Students will need copies of the oral history narratives they were assigned to read during the Reading Oral Histories of Partition activity • One piece of white computer paper for each student’s “name tent” • Markers for students to create their “name tent”

ACTIVITY: Oral History Jigsaw Students will share the experience of their narrator with other students in the class who read diff erent narratives and listen to other perspectives. • Students meet in pairs with others who read the same oral history for several minutes to review the content of their oral history and to share possible answers to the Jigsaw activity questions.

• Each pair of students will create two “name tents” with: #1 Narrator’s Name, #2 Gender, #3 Religion and #4 “Did you move?” If so, from where to where?

• Teacher will split students into groups of 5 and circle desks. Be sure to place students who read the same narrative into diff erent groups. Each group should include students who read narratives #1-5.

• Students place name tent on desks.

• Each student must participate. First, students must introduce themselves as their narrator to the group of 5.

• Answer the overhead of Oral History Jigsaw Questions that begin “Does your narrator…” Th e questions may apply more directly to one narrator than to others, so students should be prepared to answer at least one of the questions. Students will role play their character and answer the questions as if they were the narrator. Some questions may be answered by more than one narrator.

NOTE: Alternative Activity Partition “Speed Dating” follows “Oral History Jigsaw Questions”

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ORA L HISTORY JIGSAW QUESTIONS

Does your narrator…

• Th ink Partition was inevitable? Describe what they say. • Describe relationships with other religious communities? Give examples. • Give reasons for the Partition of India? If so, what are they? • Th ink that Partition changed relationships between Hindus/ Muslims/ Sikhs? • Feel nostalgic for people and/or things that they left behind? • Talk about how life has changed aft er Partition? • Describe experiencing violence? How do they talk about it?

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ALTERNATIVE ACTIVITY: Partition “Speed Dating”

TIME NEEDED: 20-25 minutes

OBJECTIVE: Students will create a “character persona” of their oral history narrator. Th ey will participate in a “Speed Dating” sequence by sharing the perspective of their narrator.

SUPPLIES FOR THIS ACTIVITY: • Students will need copies of the oral history narratives from yesterday • One piece of white computer paper for each student’s “name tent” • Markers for students to create their “name tent

ACTIVITY: Partition “Speed Dating” Students will share the experience of their narrator with other students in the class who read diff erent narratives and listen to other perspectives. • Teacher will place desks into multiple rows of 5 facing desks. Th ere should be enough seats for all the students. Th ere should be fi ve pairs of desks/students in each row.

• Students who read the same oral history narrative for homework will sit across from one another to review the content of their oral history and to prepare to share their narrator’s experience.

• Each pair of students will create two “name tents” with: #1 Narrator’s Name, #2 Gender, #3 Religion and #4 answers to the questions Did you move?” If so, from where to where?

• Aft er the review with their partner, one side of the row will stay in their desk, while the other row will shift one seat to the right. Student on the end will walk to the other end of the row. Students will carry their name tent with them.

• Each student has 1 minute to introduce themselves and to summarize their narrator’s experience while their “speed dating” partner listens. Th en they switch roles and the other student talks while the fi rst student listens. Students will speak about the experience as if they were the narrator.

• Aft er both students have introduced their narrators, the row that shift ed will shift again one student to the right. Repeat until the students have heard all of the perspectives.

NOTE: Th is activity should be followed with either a guided class discussion or Take a Stand so that students may synthesize the information from multiple narratives that reveal multiple perspectives. Th ese perspectives may also serve as a basis for creating interpretive materials using Multiple Intelligences. See Partition of India Creative Product Rubrics.

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Student Activity: Take a Stand

TIME NEEDED: 15 minutes

OBJECTIVE: Students will synthesize perspectives from oral narratives with knowledge about Partition to assess whether Partition was a good idea, and to consider alternatives. Students will relate this knowledge to current events.

SUPPLIES FOR THIS ACTIVITY: • Masking tape (optional) • Numbers on small pieces of paper, one for each student (optional)

ACTIVITY: Take a Stand Th is activity gives students an opportunity to decide where they stand on a series of controversial statements (see list below). It is designed to follow the “Partitioning the Classroom” and “Oral History Jigsaw or Partition “Speed Dating” activities. Students will stand on a line shoulder to shoulder (made of masking tape, or an imaginary line). Students number off , and throw the numbered papers in a hat. • Teacher reads one of the controversial statements listed below. If the student agrees with the statement, s/he steps to the front. If the student disagrees with the statement, s/he steps to the back. For this activity, students may not remain neutral.

• Draw a number from the hat. If the student’s number is drawn, s/he has the opportunity to defend their position (30 seconds). Another variation allows a student on the other side of the line to have 30 seconds for a rebutt al. Once a student has had a chance to sound off , they may not participate again. Remove their number from the hat.

Controversial Statement List: • Partition was a good thing. • Th e British should have stayed in India longer to facilitate Partition. • All Muslims should have been forced to leave India. • All Hindus should have been forced to leave Pakistan. • All Sikhs should have been given a choice about where to live. • Sikhs should have gott en an independent homeland in Punjab. • Th e line drawn by Radcliff e, dividing the Punjab region, was fair. • Partition should have been delayed because of violence. • Th e British military should have supervised the migration. • Distribution of resources was fair. • India should have been partitioned during the cooler months (not during August, the hott est time of the year). • It makes sense to divide countries according to people’s religion. • Iraq should be Partitioned into Sunni, Shi’a and Kurdish states.

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Student Activity: Creating Interpretive Materials

TIME NEEDED: Time may be allott ed during class or as homework

OBJECTIVE: To engage Multiple Intelligences to create interpretive materials about Partition.

SUPPLIES FOR THIS ACTIVITY: • Copies of the Creative Product Rubric • Art supplies (optional)

ACTIVITY: Creating Interpretive Materials Th is activity allows students to synthesize information from the entire unit. Th ey are able to utilize their personal talents to create materials that refl ect their understanding of the 1947 Partition of the Indian Subcontinent. Th ese materials form the major assesment for this unit.

• Introduce Creative Product Rubric. (Teachers may wish to adjust the rubric to meet the needs of their students and the lessons covered in the unit) Students may use content from any section of the unit to create an interpretive product including: perspectives from oral histories, photos, Introductory PowerPoint, Photo Analysis, short story “Toba Tek Singh” or Cartoon Analysis.

• Students break up into pairs or work solo.

• Students choose from list of product options and begin work. Students will create a script for a skit, a political cartoon, a comic strip or a writt en analysis (see rubrics). Th ere are two rubrics: one for the creative products and one for the writt en analysis.

(NOTE: Completed products created by high school students are included on the CD to show students additional examples of high quality work.)

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Partition of India Product Rubric – 100 pts Options: Script for skit, political cartoon, or comic strip 20 15 10 5 Background: Communicates understanding of basic issues at stake in Partition (i.e. major players, division of resources, aff ected groups) Application: Illustrates consequences of Partition for diff erent groups (i.e. politicians, religious groups, average people)

Evaluation: Argues for or against Partition based on information presented in lesson materials Two paragraphs explaining symbols and how the creative product shows the main players, consequences and argues for/against Partition

Appearance: Neat, typed (if skit) shows eff ort, colorful (if drawn)

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Partition of India Product Rubric – 100 pts Writt en analysis

20 15 10 5 Background: Communicates understanding of basic issues at stake in Partition (i.e. major players, division of resources, aff ected groups) Application: Illustrates consequences of Partition for diff erent groups (i.e. politicians, religious groups, average people)

Evaluation: Argues for or against Partition based on information presented in lesson materials Research: Utilizes outside research sources (print or internet) which are cited in bibliography included on a separate sheet Appearance: Typed, minimum of fi ve paragraphs, has an original title

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Student Activity: Orchid and Onion

TIME NEEDED: 5 minutes

OBJECTIVE: Students will refl ect on the whole unit and assess its success.

SUPPLIES FOR THIS ACTIVITY: • 3 x 5 note cards

ACTIVITY: Orchid and Onion Orchid and Onion is a chance for students to share what worked and what could be bett er about the lesson. Th is information can be used to modify the lesson in the future or to informally assess student learning. • Distribute 3 x 5 note cards to students.

• Each student will write an “orchid” (their favorite part of the lesson) and an “onion” (the part of the lesson they feel needs improvement, clarifi cation, or what part they didn’t like).

• Th is is also an opportunity to see what students learned and retained from the lesson.

ALTERNATIVE ACTIVITY: Have the students write down three things that they learned from the lesson as part of the unit closure. Students can turn in the cards at the end of class or share what they wrote down in a wrap-up discussion of the lesson.

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Section Th ree: Lesson Planning

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Partition in the Classroom: Lesson Plan Menus

1-DAY LESSON PLAN (1 HOUR)

Activity 1: PowerPoint Lecture: Introduction to Partition (30 minutes) Activity 2: Partitioning the Classroom (20 minutes)

Closing: Discussion of Photo: Dividing Library Books (included in Photo Analysis PowerPoint) (5 minutes)

Homework: Write two paragraphs about the Partition of India. Was Partition fair? Include what you learned about the distribution of resources between India and Pakistan.

1.5-DAY LESSON PLAN (1.5 HOURS)

Day One: Activity 1: PowerPoint Lecture: Introduction to Partition (30 minutes)

Day Two: Warm Up: KW (of KWL) (10 minutes)

Activity 1: Partitioning the Classroom (20 minutes) Activity 2: Margaret Bourke-White Photo Analysis (either format) (20 minutes) WARNING: Photos are graphic and may not be appropriate for all classes.

Closing: L (of KWL) (5 minutes)

Homework: Write two paragraphs about the Partition of India. Should India have been Partitioned? Include what you learned about the distribution of resources between India and Pakistan as well as what you learned from the photos.

3-DAY LESSON PLAN WITH SHORT STORY ANALYSIS

Day One: Activity 1: PowerPoint Lecture: Introduction to Partition (30 minutes) Activity 2: Begin Reading short story “Toba Tek Singh” by Saadat Hassan Manto

Homework: Students read short story “Toba Tek Singh” and answer Questions on the Reading

Day Two: Warm Up: KW (of KWL) (8 minutes)

Activity 1: Partitioning the Classroom (20 minutes)

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Activity 2: Margaret Bourke-White Photo Analysis (either format) (20 minutes) WARNING: Photos are graphic and may not be appropriate for all classes.

Homework: Finish reading short story “Toba Tek Singh” and Questions on the Reading

Day Th ree: Warm-up: Discussion of short story “Toba Tek Singh” using Discussion Questions (15 minutes)

Activity 1: Political Cartoon Analysis PowerPoint (30 minutes)

Closing: L (of KWL) and fi nal thoughts (5 minutes)

Homework: Begin working on Creative Product.

3-DAY LESSON PLAN WITH INTRODUCTION TO ORA L HISTORY

Day One: Activity 1: PowerPoint Lecture: Introduction to Partition (30 minutes) Activity 2: Margaret Bourke-White Photo Analysis - Group Work Format (20 minutes) (Students work in groups so that they don’t spend the entire period watching PowerPoint presentations) (WARNING: Photos are graphic and may not be appropriate for all classes.)

Day Two: Warm Up: Push/Pull Factors of Migration (15 minutes)

Activity 1: Partitioning the Classroom (20 minutes) Activity 2: Introduction to Oral History PowerPoint (15 minutes)

Homework: Read Oral History and prepare to answer Oral History Jigsaw Questions

Day Th ree: Activity 1: Oral History Jigsaw or Partition “Speed Dating” (20 minutes) Activity 2: “Take a Stand” or Class Discussion (15 minutes)

Closing: Orchid and Onion and fi nal thoughts (5 minutes)

5-DAY LESSON PLAN #1

Day One: Activity 1: PowerPoint Lecture: Introduction to Partition (30 minutes) Activity 2: Begin reading short story “Toba Tek Singh” by Saadat Hassan Manto

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Homework: Read “Toba Tek Singh” and answer Questions on the Reading/ Discussion Questions

Day Two: Warm Up: KW (of KWL) (8 minutes)

Activity 1: Partitioning the Classroom (20 minutes) Activity 2: Margaret Bourke-White Photo Analysis - Interactive PowerPoint Lecture Format (20 minutes)

Day Th ree: Warm Up: Discussion of short story “Toba Tek Singh” (15 minutes)

Activity: Political Cartoon Analysis PowerPoint (30 minutes)

Homework: Begin working on Creative Product.

Day Four: Warm Up: Push/Pull Factors of Migration (15 minutes)

Activity: PowerPoint Lecture: Introduction to Oral History (25 minutes)

Homework: Read oral history and prepare to answer Oral History Jigsaw Questions

Day Five: Activity 1: Oral History Jigsaw or Partition “Speed Dating” (20 minutes) Activity 2: Take a Stand (15 minutes)

Closing: L (of KWL) and fi nal thoughts

5-DAY LESSON PLAN #2

Day One: Activity 1: PowerPoint Lecture: Introduction to Partition (30 minutes) Activity 2: Partitioning the Classroom (20 minutes)

Closing: Discussion of Photo: Dividing Library Books (included in Photo Analysis PowerPoint) (5 minutes)

Day Two: Warm Up: KW (of KWL) 8 minutes

Activity 1: Margaret Bourke-White Photo Analysis (either format) (20 minutes) (WARNING: Photos are graphic and may not be appropriate for all classes.)

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Activity 2: Begin Reading short story “Toba Tek Singh” by Saadat Hassan Manto

Homework: Finish reading “Toba Tek Singh” and answer Questions on the Reading/ Discussion Questions

Day Th ree: Warm Up: Discussion of “Toba Tek Singh” (15 minutes)

Activity: Political Cartoon Analysis PowerPoint (30 minutes)

Homework: Begin working on Creative Product

Day Four: Warm Up: Push/Pull Migration Factors (15 minutes)

Activity 1: PowerPoint Lecgture: Introduction to Oral History (15 minutes) Activity 2: Begin reading oral histories of Partition

Homework: Finish reading oral history and prepare to answer Oral History Jigsaw Questions

Day Five: Activity 1: Oral History Jigsaw or Partition “Speed Dating” (20 minutes) Activity 2: Take a Stand (15 minutes)

Closing: L (of KWL) 5 minutes and fi nal thoughts

Homework: Finish Creative Product.

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Section Four: Student Products

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Sample of Student Products #1

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Sample of Student Products #2

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Sample of Student Products #3

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Sample of Student Products #4

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Sample of Student Products #5

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